The majority of the Los Angeles Lakers players have been jelling since the trade deadline. The Lakers are 9-4 since the deadline, despite missing LeBron James for the past eight games. Anthony Davis has been ballin' out, flanked by the revamped supporting cast.
Excluding the injured Mo Bamba, the only new rotation player who hadn't yet found a groove in Los Angeles was Malik Beasley — a career 38% sniper whom the Lakers hoped would improve what had been the meekest perimeter shooting attack in the NBA.
Besides a brief garbage-time surge in a Feb. 13 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and one scorching performance against the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 23, Beasley has been ice cold despite relocating from Utah to Los Angeles. Entering Tuesday's matchup vs. the New Orleans Pelicans, Beasley had shot 26.8% from 3 across the previous eight games.
Beasley caught fire in NOLA. He lit up the Smoothie King Center for 21 first-half points on seven triples, including three in a row in the second quarter that ballooned the Lakers lead to 52-26. (The Lakers set a franchise record with 15 first-half made 3s, while Beasley became the first Laker since Kobe Bryant to drain seven 3s in a half.) Beasley quieted after halftime as the Lakers took their foot off the gas, but the damage had been done. Los Angeles won 123-108, and the vibes, as Austin Reaves posted on Instagram, were “immaculate.”
“At one point I was like, ‘Damn, we hot,'” Beasley said postgame, noting how a handful of his teammates joined the barrage.
“As a group, 3s aren’t our only options, but when we’re knocking that down, I feel like I’m the X-factor on the team. Like last game, I feel like if I would have made two or three more of my 3s, we would have won that game.”
Malik Beasley drains his 5th triple of the game 💦pic.twitter.com/h412rk0xii
— LakeShow (@LakeShowCP) March 15, 2023
Sparked by Beasley's confident and quick trigger, the Lakers exuded the camaraderie, swagger, and joyfulness that have been constant since the deadline. D'Angelo Russell was particularly amped to see his teammate find his stroke.
“I think with Beas, his main thing is just being free,” opined DLo. “When he's free, when he's happy-go-lucky and just vibrant through the locker room, you hear his voice, you hear his energy — I think that's what allows him to come out and be free as a shooter. There's players in the league that you can't over-coach, you can't overdo it with. You gotta kinda let him be him. I think he's one of those guys in that category.”
“We've been wanting Beas to get hot like that for a while,” Russell added.
D'Angelo Russell is the biggest hypeman 🙌pic.twitter.com/CGydLua3hG
— LakeShow (@LakeShowCP) March 15, 2023
“To have a guard like that in your backcourt that's cheering you on, that's huge,” Beasley said about Russell.
Beasley, who told reporters at shootaround earlier in the day that he was expecting to have a big night, said he reminded himself to just “keep doing what I've been doing” and not to worry about the “pressure of making shots.”
“It felt good to get back in rhythm,” he said.
The Lakers still rank as a below-average outside shooting club since the deadline, though the stats are significantly impacted by Beasley's struggles and don't include Tuesday's heater. If Beasley performs like his usual self, those numbers will tick up. Heck, their spacing could even become an asset once LeBron returns.
The Lakers have come a long way since their historically inept early-season shooting woes, which LeBron lamented on Opening Night.
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