This past off-season, we saw Carmelo Anthony exit his six-year, roller coaster tenure with the New York Knicks when he was shipped to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott. Journeyman Michael Beasley, who has also taken a crazy ride in the pros, became his replacement for the 2017-18 NBA season.
With Anthony being a future Hall-of-Famer and Beasley having an underwhelming NBA career — at least based on the standards given to a former second overall pick — an obvious assumption was made: the Thunder will be strong contenders and the Knicks will remain as the laughing stock in the league.
Both assumptions became far from what had really turned out.
Reddit user watchingyoupee had a stat that may summarize it nicely, as he pointed out that the Beasley has three 30-point games this season while Anthony still has none.
Also, Anthony’s possession-stopping, isolation-heavy style of play was a key hindrance to the team early in the season. A career scoring machine who made a living through perimeter shooting, he was eventually forced to take a backseat from co-superstar teammates Russell Westbrook and Paul George. As the third option in OKC, he's averaging career-lows 17.1 points per game on 41.2-percent field goal shooting, which may have led to snapping his eight-straight years of being an All-Star. Furthermore, the fifth-seeded Thunder are only looking like a second-round playoff team at best.
Beasley, meanwhile — though the Knicks are still at the bottom of the East — has risen to become a crowd favorite at the Madison Square Garden. His quick-scoring offense, which have him averaging 22.4 points per 36 minutes since this season, was a quick way to endear himself to the Knicks faithful. The team's room for improvement is still huge, but it has a hint of encouragement, thanks to Beasley, Kristaps Porzingis, and all their developing young guns.