Cavaliers Enter Race Against Knicks, Pistons For Sharpshooter Free Agent

Cleveland Cavaliers enter the race for Malik Beasley; expect competition from the New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons.

4 Min Read

Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images

After he was no longer the focus of a gambling investigation, Malik Beasley’s lawyers confirmed that he had gotten the green signal to resume looking for a home in the NBA free agency. 

Right after this news broke, the Knicks were one of the first names to be mentioned alongside his former team, the Pistons, as a potential landing spot for Malik Beasley. Subsequently, the Cavaliers have also reportedly entered the race. 

According to Mike A. Scotto, the NBA Insider with HoopsHype, the Cavaliers inquired about the former Lakers guard, who is shooting 39.1% from beyond the three-point line for his career. 

“The Knicks and Cavaliers have checked in on Malik Beasley, sources told @hoopshype. Knicks executive Gersson Rosas signed Beasley to a four-year, $60M deal with the Timberwolves. The Knicks and Cavs have minimum deals to offer. Beasley is no longer a target of a federal investigation,” wrote Scotto in a post on X.  

Beasley has shot over 40% from the three-point line for the past two seasons. With his 319 three-point shots made last season, he broke the Pistons’ franchise record for most threes made in a single season. Therefore, it is likely that the Pistons will push the hardest to bring Beasley back to Detroit. 

Meanwhile, the financial restrictions imply that the Knicks and the Cavaliers can only offer him a veteran minimum deal. The 28-year-old guard will likely seek more money eventually, but will have to take a pay cut if he wishes for a change of atmosphere and moves on from the Pistons. 

The Pistons signed him on a one-year, $6 million deal last summer. Earlier, before he was involved in the investigations, the Pistons were reportedly ready to use their $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception on him and offer him a three-year, $42 million deal. 

But since his involvement in the investigation, they seemingly pivoted to Caris LeVert and used that exception on him. Therefore, they can now offer him a 20% raise from their first contract, a maximum of $7.2 million per year in a deal. 

This is still far greater than a veteran minimum deal that the Knicks and Cavaliers can reportedly offer, which will be approximately $3.6 million for his experience level. Beasley is a solid investment for either of these teams as he averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists last season and played all 82 games in the regular season. 

A consistent threat from deep and not injury-prone like several other players, Beasley may want to compete for a championship and leave the Pistons for that. But if he values playing time more, then the best-suited team for him is the Pistons. 

He will have to compete with elite players like Josh Hart, Donovan Mitchell, and a sharpshooter like Max Strus if he decides to join either the Knicks or the Cavaliers. 

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Chaitanya Dadhwal is an NBA Analyst and Columnist at Fadeaway World from New Delhi, India. He fell in love with basketball in 2018 after seeing James Harden in his prime. He joined the sports journalism world in 2021, one year before finishing his law school in 2022. He attended Jindal Global Law School in Sonipat, India, where his favorite subject was also Sports Law.He transitioned from law to journalism after realizing his true passion for sports and basketball in particular. Even though his journalism is driven by his desire to understand both sides of an argument and give a neutral perspective, he openly admits he is biased towards the Houston Rockets and Arsenal. But that intersection of in-depth analysis and passion helps him simplify the fine print and complex language for his readers.His goal in life is to open his own sports management agency one day and represent athletes. He wants to ensure he can help bridge the gap in equal opportunity for athletes across various sports and different genders playing the same sport.
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