Michael Beasley believes he’s a guard, not a forward.
The 6-9 former Kansas State star, who was selected second-overall in the 2008 NBA Draft, is now five years removed from his final NBA season in 2019.
Reflecting on his career in a recent appearance on the “Club 520 Podcast” with Jeff Teague, Beasley claims he spent his entire time in the league “playing out of position,” specifically pointing to his 2017-18 season with the Knicks, where he felt he should have been given a chance to play in the backcourt.
”Everybody played me as a four because of college, but I’ve been playing out of position my whole career,” he said on Monday’s episode. “You play me at the one, two, or three, and I’m bigger, better on defense. Now I’ve got somebody to play pick-and-roll with.
“I could’ve f–ked up the pick-and-roll game with Kyle O’Quinn and Kristaps Porzingis.”
Beasley placed blame elsewhere for the team’s shortcomings.
The Knicks finished his lone year in town with a 29-53 record, good for 11th in the Eastern Conference.
“[But] former Knicks head coach] Jeff Hornacek was on the hot seat,” Beasley continued, “and Porzingis didn’t really know how to play good, winning basketball. That s–t was trash, man.”
During his time with the Knicks, Beasley averaged 13.2 points per game, shooting an impressive 50.7% from the field and 39.5% from three-point range to go with 5.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists in just 22.3 minutes per game.
Earlier in his career, he posted averages of 13.9, 14.8 and 19.2 points per game over his first three seasons — two of which were spent with the Miami Heat before being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, off-court issues soon began to take a toll, impacting his performance on the court.
And while Beasley argues he was misused by several NBA coaches throughout his 11-year career, it’s hard to ignore the more compelling narrative: that his off-court struggles likely hindered his ability to thrive in any system.
In the episode, Beasley also weighed in on the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All-Time) debate.
“Like, I feel like people that stan Michael Jordan as the GOAT, like no disrespect, but y’all just holding on to old feelings, you know what I’m saying?” he said. “Like, [LeBron James] got 40,000 [points] right now and counting. Yeah, and dog, you seen his resume.”
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