3. Malik Beasley
With the way things currently stand, Malik Beasley doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Bulls at this moment in time. But with the status of Chicago’s backcourt in serious jeopardy, he could become a viable option much sooner than we’d expect.
We have still yet to hear anything positive regarding the recovery process of Lonzo Ball’s knee, we do not know if Goran Dragic can still play at a high level given his age and poor performance last season, and there’s no telling if Coby White will even still be on this roster by the time the trade deadline rolls around.
For those reasons mentioned above, I believe Beasley’s status on the open market is well worth monitoring over the next few months. Similarly to Coby, he’s a pure scoring threat off the bench that’s liable to take over a game at any given moment. His high moments inconsistently come and go, yes, but as a situational role player, you’ll take what you can get and enjoy the moments the gamble pays off.
You might think it’s odd that I exclude Clarkson from this discussion, but not Beasley due to their nature as score-first guards off the bench. I’d respond by pointing out Beasley is five years younger, has a flexible team option next season while Clarkson has a prohibitive player option, and is the far superior threat from beyond the arc — maintaining a 38.6% career mark from deep as opposed to Clarkson’s below-average 33.8%.
When given substantial minutes, Beasley has proven he scores at a high clip on excellent efficiency, something no one else on the roster outside of LaVine, Coby, and DeMar DeRozan can confidently say. If the Bulls are to be battered by injuries once again, Beasley could be a great contingency plan on the cheap.