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Like many other NBA players, Michael Beasley has not put down his basketball over the summer, and the new Los Angeles Lakers forward turned some heads with his highlights from the Miami Pro League recently.
Beasley was a controversial addition to the Lakers’ roster, but with the full caveat that this is not NBA-level competition, almost anyone would have to agree that he looks pretty great in the video below:
We already knew that the Lakers were getting a smooth and efficient scorer when they signed Beasley, but the forward hasn’t been known much for his passing throughout his NBA career.
Still, Beasley tied his career-high for a season with a 12.5 percent assist rate last season (which, to be fair, still isn’t great). Despite knowledge of that small improvement going in, the dish below is probably what stood out most from the above video if only because it proved that Beasley does keep his head on a bit more of a swivel now and is capable of finding cutters when he’s triple-teamed:
Beasley probably won’t see that intense of defensive attention on the Lakers next season, so he’ll still have to prove he can make the right reads in Luke Walton’s offense when presented with decisions that weren’t as obvious as that one.
But people also don’t turn into Beasley highlights for passing. The fun of watching the Kansas State product is his pure, unadulterated bucket-getting ability, and this poster dunk on the very next play of the video didn’t disappoint on that front:
Unlike the assist above, that play is classic Beasley. It’s unknown how much Beasley will actually play for the Lakers next season — that will be determined by how he fares in training camp — but if he gets minutes, that type of phenomenal footwork should be the expectation, and in limited doses leading the bench offense, it could be a lot of fun too.
You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.