The Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the NBA Playoffs on Monday with a 113-111 loss in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets. After winning the previous two series in impressive fashion without homecourt advantage, the Lakers run ended here. It was a good story for a team that started out the season 2-10 only to make some key trades at the deadline to fuel a post-All-Star break run. While LeBron James certainly got people talking regarding his potential future with the team, there’s at least one Lakers player who believes this team is good enough as currently constructed to win a championship. Malik Beasley joined the Lakers at the trade deadline and he believes with a full training camp this team is good enough as is as per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Malik Beasley on the Lakers’ ceiling next season: “I don’t think a team can beat us in a seven-game series if we have this experience and a training camp together.”
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) May 23, 2023
Malik Beasley joined the Lakers along with Jarred Vanderbilt in a three team trade that also brought D’Angelo Russell back to the purple and gold. Following the All-Star break, the Lakers went 16-7 and made a frantic climb in the standings to reach the play-in tournament. It’s not inconceivable to think that with a full season of this roster, they would have had a better record and perhaps a higher finish in the Western Conference standings.
Since joining the Lakers, Beasley was averaging 11.1 points per game, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 assist with shooting splits of 39.2 percent from the field, 35.3 percent from the three-point line and 61.9 percent from the free-throw line. Beasley was supposed to be a consistent shooting threat for the Lakers but inconsistency ultimately cost him his starting spot and throughout the NBA Playoffs he had lost his spot in the rotation.
from THE LEAK NEWS https://ift.tt/YwzFXHc
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