National Basketball Association

Milwaukee Bucks: Can Michael Beasley Revive His Career?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Having been traded right before the season started, can Michael Beasley fully resurrect his career during his time with the Milwaukee Bucks?

In late September, the news broke that the Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets had exchanged Tyler Ennis for Michael Beasley. The initial impression of that trade from many was negative.

This was because the Bucks had given away an encouraging young prospect for a 27-year-old who had been playing in China less than a year ago. However, after starting to take the court for the Bucks, the opinion on this trade seems to be changing.

Michael Beasley is on a minimum contract, so the risk for this trade was low to begin with. With the Bucks desperately needing bench help behind Giannis, a gamble on a former number two pick would most likely be worth the risk.

In his first couple appearances on the court, he looked like one would expect Michael Beasley to look. He was taking low percentage shots early in the shot clock, not passing the ball, and and taking touches from the core. From this I thought that the sole reason the Bucks traded for Beasley was to show Jabari what not to become. However, his attitude has looked like it’s changing as the days go by.

All of a sudden, Michael Beasley looked like he could be a solid contributor off the bench. The backing behind this could be coupled with what his former teammate from Houston and now current teammate in Milwaukee had to say about him.

Jason Terry talked about how Beasley looks more mature than he has in his NBA career. After playing with him on the Rockets last season, Terry witnessed how Beasley’s attitude about the game is changing and how he is growing as a person to fill that role.

What happened to him is he was humbled by the experience when he was without the NBA,” Terry said. “He had to go over to China and play for a season. It’s different. It’s a reality check. It’s like, you were very blessed to play in this league and that was taken away from you. So when you come back, all of a sudden you mature very fast. Early on in his career, he was not mature. He had all the physical and athletic ability to play this game, but he lacked in the maturity department. I’ve seen a difference last year in Houston when he was there for his three months’ time.

In his last three games, Michael Beasley has been steadily improving. He’s 3-3 from three-point range, has an effective field-goal percentage of 75.7 percent, and a 125.1 offensive rating.

His best game of the season was Saturday night against the Memphis Grizzlies, where he had a season-high 19 points to go along with four rebounds. Beasley seemed to have success driving and getting to the basket, which is easier when the second unit has competent shooters. His numbers might not be staggering, but it’s promising that they could help the Bucks’ bench to be one of the better second units in the league.

The NBA is much better than the Chinese Basketball Association, and that might be the kick that Michael Beasley needed. Although it might be unrealistic for him to be who the Miami Heat thought they were drafting in 2008, a role as an above-average bench contributor is more plausible. For Michael Beasley, better late than never seems pretty good.