The Malik Beasley saga has been dragging for months as he waits to be cleared in both federal and NBA gambling investigations. The Detroit Pistons have a roster spot, and there has been ample speculation that Beasley would return to Detroit if and when he is cleared.
A lot of that talk is coming from Beasley himself, who sent Pistons fans into a frenzy when he posted this on his Snapchat: “I’m going to the D this week I wonder why.”
Unless he is talking about getting a Coney dog or just really misses Detroit-style pizza, then Beasley is surely referencing his return to the Pistons.
But this isn’t the first time Beasley has dropped cryptic messages on social media, and he is still without a job, so we can’t take any of this stuff too seriously.
Beasley’s posts haven’t been much less reliable than the reporting around this case, which has given out misleading information several times about Beasley’s status, which is, as far as we currently know, still under investigation and not cleared to play in the NBA.
I’m starting to feel like Charlie Brown getting the football pulled from me at this point, so I’m not going to believe anything until I see Beasley back in a Pistons uniform, but what would that even look like?
Detroit Pistons bringing back Malik Beasley
At the moment, the Pistons could certainly use Beasley’s services, as Jaden Ivey and Marcus Sasser are still out, and Caris LeVert doesn’t look great so far.
The Pistons have struggled to find shooting but have also missed a ton of shots at the rim, something Beasley is not going to fix, but he would help improve their long-range shooting, which is again in the bottom half of the league.
Beasley’s return would allow the Pistons to have at least one good 3-point shooter on the floor at all times and give their bench some pop that it has been missing.
I’ve already seen a lot of fan speculation about Beasley and Duncan Robinson playing together to create space, but they seem to forget that defense is also part of the equation and neither of those two play much of it.
Beasley would more likely come off the bench as Robinson’s replacement and take the minutes that are currently being played by Javonte Green.
One player who wouldn’t likely be too happy if Beasley returned is Marcus Sasser, who has yet to play and would likely be a part of the rotation if he weren’t injured. Beasley’s return would likely end much chance of him ever being a part of the full-time rotation, at least this season.
There are still a lot of moving parts, and like I said, I’ll believe it when I see it, but Beasley is certainly hinting at a return, and it may be soon.