Michael Beasley's latest attempt to carve out a steady NBA role has come to an end. The former No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft has agreed to leave the Memphis Grizzlies to sign a deal with the Shanghai Sharks in China, reports Adrian Wojnarowki of Yahoo! Sports.
Michael Beasley leaves Grizzlies to sign with Chinese team owned by Yao Ming
The Michael Beasley experiment in Memphis didn’t last long before the former No. 2 overall pick decided to take his talents to China.
Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports
The Sharks are currently owned by former NBA star Yao Ming.
The news brings an abrupt conclusion to the latest comeback attempt from Beasley, who signed with Memphis earlier this summer hoping to crack the roster during training camp. It’s unclear how that process was going, but instead Beasley will take the guaranteed money in China and hope to re-ignite his career abroad.
Still just 25 years old, Beasley was one of the top prospects in the sport when the Miami Heat originally drafted him out of Kansas State in 2008. After two up-and-down years playing next to Dwyane Wade in Miami, Beasley was shipped to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2010 to help clear cap space for the arrival of the Big Three.
Beasley’s best season in the NBA came with Minnesota, where he averaged 19.2 points per game as the team’s starting small forward in 2010-11. However, Beasley quickly fell out of favor with the team the following season, and by 2013-14, he was back in South Beach at the end of the Heat bench playing garbage minutes.
Signing with Memphis was supposed to give Beasley an opportunity for playing time as a change of pace from veteran wings like Tayshaun Prince and Vince Carter, but apparently the fit wasn't quite there. Yao's team is presumably paying a good deal in its new deal with Beasley, more than he would've received on a league-minimum NBA deal.
Beasley won't be the only former NBA player in Shanghai, either: the Sharks added former Cavaliers guard Delonte West to their roster last month.
See More:
