The 2024-25 NBA season has been a special one for the Detroit Pistons. At 41-32, they are on track to win more games (46) than they have since they went to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2008.
One of the brightest stars in all of that has been Malik Beasley – a veteran journeyman who the Pistons added on a one-year deal (one of the best contracts of free agency) this past offseason.
While it now makes perfect sense, at the time, Beasley’s decision to sign with the Pistons was a curious one. Why would a proven contributor want to join a team coming off a 14-win season?
"The main thing was that I knew that they needed shooting around Cade Cunningham," Beasley told me in an interview for Forbes. "The second part was comfortability. My mom is from Detroit, and I also just really connected with J.B. Bickerstaff and Trajan Langdon from our initial conversations. I told them that I wanted to change my role in this league. I still want to produce on the court, but I also want to show them what it takes to win. I want to be a leader."
Beasley is certainly still producing. Depending on how you look at it, he’s been the Pistons' second-best player – ranking second on the team in Offensive Estimated Plus-Minus (per Dunks & Threes) and putting together one of the greatest shooting seasons in NBA history.
Beasley – a career 39.1% 3-point shooter – has always been a reputable sniper, but this is something different. On the season, Beasley is hitting 42.1% of his threes while attempting 9.2 shots beyond the arc per game – a combination of efficiency and volume that only one other player has ever achieved. You may have heard of him:
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"I’m just extremely confident right now," Beasley explained. “Extremely confident, and also making sure I put in the same work every single day, no matter how tired I might be.”
“The one thing I have added to my routine is taking more shots with seven footers in my face. Luckily, our staff has two seven-footers. So, I can practice getting shots off with one of them in front of me and one of them behind me. That probably won’t happen to me in a game setting, but if I make the shots in practice as hard as they can be, they become so much easier in live game situations.”
Along with his historic offensive production, Beasley has made good on his promise to become a leader. There is the unquantifiable wisdom he offers to young players on a day-to-day basis, but the easiest way to see his guidance is through his growth as a defender.
Talent, size, and skill can take you pretty far on the defensive side of the floor. However, any shortcomings in those areas can be (mostly) remedied with effort and intensity.
For most of his career, Beasley has never been known as a defensive ace. But through hard work and desire, he’s been able to transform himself into a clear positive on that end of the court. This season, Beasley is in the 66th percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus.
Once a target that opposing teams would try to attack with their primary ball handlers (a tactic teams often employ to get great shooters off the floor), Beasley is now tasked with guarding premier scorers by design.
"I spent a lot of the offseason working with Tony Allen," Beasley revealed to me. "I also watched a lot of the all-time great perimeter defenders. I studied the tendencies of great offensive players. I didn’t want to be the guy that other teams called up into ballscreens. As a shooter, teams usually try to manhunt you. I didn’t want to be that guy anymore."
Fred VanVleet, Houston Rockets. Malik Beasley, Detroit Pistons.Detroit Pistons Photo.
In particular, Bickerstaff loves to have Beasley defend other movement shooters because he understands where they want to go and how to keep them from getting there.
"Coach knows that I’ve seen every type of shot and every type of screen. So, most of the time, he puts me on the best shooter because he knows that I can chase them around screens," Beasley said. "Like when we played the Golden State Warriors, he had me guard Stephen Curry."
Beasley has become a legitimate two-way wing in a league that desperately craves them. Most guys with his box score slash line would be automatically penciled into the starting lineup, but for the sake of the team, Beasley has embraced the duty of being the first guy to come off the bench.
"It’s something Coach and I have talked about a lot this year. I know I could easily be a starter, but it’s better for the team for me to be the sixth man. We need instant offense off the bench, especially when Cunningham is getting double-teamed or when he is off the floor."
Beasley doesn’t need to be lauded for his selflessness. The Pistons’ year-long success is enough for him. And trust me, when you speak to him, you can tell that he and his teammates still have a lot more they hope to accomplish this season. The team has inherited their sage leader’s fire, and they feel that they are a match for seemingly any opponent that crosses their path.
Still, Beasley knows he’s the best bench player in the league and feels that he should be rewarded as such.
"Payton Pritchard has been awesome, but I still think to be the Sixth Man of the Year. One, because I know I’ve put in the work. Two, the numbers back it up. And three, our one-year turnaround as a team – going from winning 14 games to now being at 41 with nine games left to go."
When you look at it that way, Beasley’s case is pretty air-tight. His improvement as a shooter and defender is a testament to the hours he’s put in when no one is watching. Beasley also leads the league in total threes made (starter or bench player), and if he continues at his current pace, he’ll become the first bench player to ever eclipse the 300 threes mark (Beasley would be the fourth overall player ever to cross that threshold, joining Curry, James Harden, and Klay Thompson in that exclusive club). And the Pistons' 27-win turnaround is already tied for the eighth-best single-season win spike in NBA history. If they can win six of their last nine, they’ll finish top five all-time in this category.
Beasley is putting together an extraordinary season on an extraordinary team. Now, it’s time for voters to recognize him as the rightful 2024-25 Sixth Man of the Year.