Report: Sixers interested in signing Malik Beasley

The Sixers have just agreed to sign Patrick Beverley on a one-year, minimum deal to add to their backcourt rotation, and now they’re reportedly interested in another free agent guard.

According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the Sixers and several other teams are interested in Malik Beasley, who’s hit the free agent market after the Lakers declined to pick up his $16.52 million team option for 2023-24:

Lakers free agent guard Malik Beasley has drawn interest from the Sixers, Suns, Raptors, Mavericks, Bucks, and Warriors, league sources told HoopsHype. Beasley led the NBA in three-pointers made off the bench last season and is a career 37.8 percent shooter from beyond the arc.

The 26-year-old Beasley spent time with the Jazz and Lakers last season, averaging 12.7 points per game and a 35.7 percent stroke from three. After ramping up his three-point volume in his career year in 2020-21 with Minnesota, when he averaged a career-high 19.6 points and 8.7 three-point attempts per game, he’s remained very effective from beyond the arc. It’s where he makes most of his impact, operating off movement and launching a high volume of threes on pretty good efficiency — he’s shot 37.3 percent from deep on an impressive 8.2 attempts per game over the last three seasons.

He doesn’t offer much creation off the bounce, and 72.5 percent of his field goal attempts have come from three-point range over the last two seasons, but his shooting skillset would be intriguing. Especially as the Sixers have already lost one of their best shooters this free agency after Georges Niang agreed to sign with the Cavaliers.

Beasley probably isn’t an ideal target for the Sixers, though. For one, after already adding Beverley, Beasley would be another small guard at 6-foot-4 who wouldn’t offer much help in terms of extra playmaking, ability to drive and attack the paint, or wing defense. If James Harden ends up sticking around at all, or the Sixers get a guard to headline their return package, signing a smaller, primarily off-ball guard like Beasley doesn’t seem as valuable if they’d have to use their mid-level exception to get him.

But again, whatever the Sixers get in return in a Harden trade will be pivotal in deciding the outlook of the team and what positions/needs they have to focus on. Until we have more clarity of that situation, it’s hard to know exactly what would be best for the Sixers.

For now, we’ll just keep you posted on how the trade and free agent markets are developing.