CLEVELAND, Ohio — In this episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, Ethan Sands, Chris Fedor, and Jimmy Watkins discuss the implications of Malik Beasley’s free agency situation, his potential fit with the Cavs, and the dynamics of the NBA market.
Takeaways:
1. Malik Beasley’s Free Agency Status
Malik Beasley, who played for the Detroit Pistons last season, had his free agency effectively delayed due to a federal gambling investigation. Though he was recently labeled as “no longer a target” of the investigation according to his attorneys, the situation has significantly impacted his market value, forcing him to likely accept a veteran minimum contract rather than the three-year, $42 million deal he was originally set to sign with Detroit.
2. Beasley’s Statistical Impact Last Season
Beasley was one of the NBA’s premier bench players last season, finishing first in bench points per game (minimum 60 games), second in total three-pointers made, and second in bench three-pointers made. He averaged 16.3 points per game on 41.6% shooting from deep while playing all 82 games. He joined Steph Curry and Klay Thompson as the only players ever with 300+ three-pointers made on 40%+ shooting in a season.
3. Cavaliers’ Interest and Roster Fit
The Cavaliers have expressed interest in Beasley for their 14th roster spot, viewing him as potential insurance for Sam Merrill, who recently received a contract extension. While the Cavs organization loves Merrill and has invested in his development, Beasley would provide a proven scoring option off the bench should Merrill struggle with his expanded role or if injuries occur during the season.
4. Contract Situation and Market Value
Due to the timing of his clearance from the gambling investigation, Beasley has missed out on significant money in free agency. Teams with exceptions over $7.2 million that could offer Beasley more than the minimum (Bulls, Pacers, Pelicans, Kings, Wizards, Nets) are not contenders. Contending teams like the Cavaliers or Knicks can only offer the veteran minimum, putting Beasley in a difficult financial position.
5. Motivation and Risk Assessment
The podcast hosts agree that Beasley would be highly motivated on a minimum contract as he tries to rebuild his reputation and value. They argue there’s minimal risk for the Cavaliers, as a veteran minimum contract for the 14th roster spot represents little financial commitment. If it doesn’t work out, the team could simply move on without significant consequences.
6. Competing Teams and Opportunities
The New York Knicks were mentioned as another team with interest in Beasley and potentially a better fit for him in terms of available playing time. The hosts suggested Beasley might prefer the Knicks because they’re still trying to replace the three-point shooting they lost from Donte DiVincenzo and have a clearer path to minutes than the Cavaliers, whose rotation is more established.
7. Detroit’s Roster Moves Post-Beasley
After the gambling allegations surfaced, Detroit pivoted from their plan to re-sign Beasley and instead signed Caris LeVert, Duncan Robinson, and Javante Green. This creates an awkward potential reunion if Beasley were to return to Detroit, as they’ve essentially replaced him with higher-paid players who fill similar roles, particularly Duncan Robinson at $16 million per year.
8. Culture Considerations for Cleveland
The hosts discussed potential culture implications of signing Beasley, noting it could create an awkward situation with Sam Merrill, who is well-liked in the locker room and particularly close with team leader Donovan Mitchell. While they believe the Cavaliers’ culture is strong enough to withstand this “small crack,” it would add another dynamic to what could already be a tension-filled regular season.
9. Beasley’s Playing Style and Limitations
The discussion highlighted Beasley’s reputation as a “wow, what player” - someone who can get extremely hot (making seven threes in a game) but also make questionable decisions. His defensive limitations were mentioned as a potential playoff liability, though the hosts agreed this matters less for a 14th roster spot than it would for a core rotation player making significant money.
10. Free Agency Landscape Assessment
The hosts concluded that aside from Russell Westbrook, Malik Beasley is the most “playable commodity” remaining in free agency. They suggested that whichever team signs Beasley would be getting a significant value at this point in the offseason, as the remaining free agents require teams to “squint and really convince yourself to see a viable NBA rotational caliber player.”
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Transcript
NOTE: This transcript was generated by artificial intelligence and could contain misspellings and errors.
Ethan Sands: What up, Cavs Nation? I’m your host, Ethan Sands, and I’m back with another episode of the Ron and Gold Talk podcast. Joining me today, Chris Fedor and Jimmy Watkins, two of cleveland.com’s finest. And we are going to go into one of the most coveted players in free agency that had his free agency kind of stripped away from him for a majority of the summer, Malik Beasley, who was a subject of or a target of gambling accusations when it comes to a federal gambling investigation. And Willie Beasley, of course, as we all know, was on the Detroit Pistons last year as one of the best snipers from beyond the ark last season. Chris, I know there are so many different stipulations when it comes to the conversations surrounding Malik Beasley, how much money he could have been offered at the beginning of the summer, throughout summer, and now how much money is going to be evidently taken away from him because of how late it is into the game and having to wait this whole thing out. It has already been reported that the Cavs are in the talks of trying to get Malik Beasley. How true do you believe those statements to be? And also how likely do you think it is that the Cavs can get someone like Malik Beasley on a veteran minimum contract?
Chris Fedor: Well, they don’t have a lot of other competition in terms of can they get him on a veteran minimum contract? Because the teams that are going to be interested in Beasley at this point in time and the teams that he’s going to have an interest in are all contending teams that have about the same to offer the veterans minimum type contract. And for him, it’s an unfortunate situation, but it’s the reality of the situation that he’s in. He probably has to take a one year veterans minimum deal and hope that he can rebuild his reputation and rebuild his value and see if there’s still enough time to get himself a new contract down the road if he does the things that he needs to do for whatever team it is that he’s going to sign with. And sure, I think the Cavs have expressed interest in him. I think they should express interest in him. These are the kinds of opportunities that if we were talking about the beginning of free agency and the stuff wasn’t swirling around Malik, he wouldn’t be available. He’d be back with the Detroit Pistons. Detroit was going to resign him. Detroit wanted him back. Detroit valued all the different things that he brought to them last year, especially the three point shooting and a little bit of scoring off the bench. So if if all that stuff off the court wasn’t going on with Malik, then he wouldn’t be available right now. So this is an opportunity for the Cavs, for the New York Knicks, for other teams that have a quote unquote, open roster spot and other teams that have championship aspirations to see if they can take advantage of this situation that Malik found himself in. So it would be wise for the Cavs and these other contenders to take a look and just gauge his interest in whether he wants to join the team and whether he’s okay with the role that would be available to him at this point and whether he’s okay playing on the kind of salary that they have to offer to him. Um, you’re right, Ethan. He was one of the. The best six men in the entire NBA. He was one of the best three point shooters in the NBA. There is certainly a place for him. If you think about the style of play that the Cavs have offensively, there’s certainly a place for him on this roster. It doesn’t mean that he would have a huge role. It doesn’t mean that he would be a core player. It doesn’t mean that he would be one of the most important players on the roster. But there’s certainly a place for somebody who has the kind of skill set that he has.
Jimmy Watkins: First of all, I think that this might be a heavy lawyer lift for who’s ever drawn up this contract.
Chris Fedor: Because I think that the Cavs have one of those in their front office that is making some of these decisions. Jason Hillman got to start doing that back in the day.
Jimmy Watkins: Yes. Cause I don’t. Because, well, Malik Beasley. The fact that teams are showing interest in Malik Beasley suggests to me that there’s a level of comfort that Malik Beasley is not going to get some big hammer down. He’s been. He hasn’t quite been cleared of this entire investigation, but he’s not a target of the investigation. I think that’s an important clarification to drop here. Quite frankly, I don’t really know what that means. I’ll just tell you right now, I’m stuck in. The Browns traded Kenny Pickett. The Browns are opening different eggs with their, oh, we gave up a fifth round pick, we’re getting a fifth round pick back. We gave the Eagles a backup quarterback that they had to cut.
Chris Fedor: Whatever.
Jimmy Watkins: That doesn’t matter from a basketball standpoint, I think the Cavs have the culture which is important in the situation like this to, to. To bet on a guy like this and and build him up, quite frankly, because Billy Beasley’s been through quite a bit over the last few months, whether he. Whether he ends up being completely cleared of this or not. I mean, there’s, as a result of this investigation, a lot of other personal business of Malik Beasley’s. Financial business of Malik Beasley’s has come to light, and that doesn’t sound very fun to me. The Cavs have a winning culture. They have a strong culture. They have the kind of coach, I think, who can. Who can inject the kind of confidence that Malik Beasley needs right now. Right? How many times did we see Kenny Atkinson at different points of last season, pushed the right buttons with guys who needed a pick me up at certain times? That’s all well and good, and from a strictly player in, player out value perspective, dollar for dollar, I feel quite comfortable in saying there is no better basketball player available in free agency right now, particularly for the. For the minimum. Malik Beasley’s second on six man of the year ballot, as we discussed. I think that case for first, first place, given how important he was to the Pistons offense. Now, you do want to be a little bit careful betting on someone coming off of a career season, but again, it’s a minimum contract. So what’s the bet, really? My question would be this. Do the Cavs need another guy that will be picked on defensively in the playoffs? Like, is it. Is it. Is it the value so great that it kind of just doesn’t matter what exactly Malik Beasley’s skill set is? Because I think if we were drawing up what the Cav need for a roster, for a 14th roster spot, I don’t know that it would exactly like you if you gave it to a police sketch artist, that he’d come back to you with a. A picture of Malik Beasley. And the other question I would have is, is this the best situation for Malik Beasley from a role perspective? Like, I feel like the Cavs rotation is pretty darn set right now and other teams have more to offer him. Like, I just don’t. Where does he. Where does he fit? And I feel like he’s kind of. He’s a good regular season player for sure. They would find minutes, you know, kumbaya. Kenny is going to go 11, 12 deep if he needs to, but I just feel like for Malik Beasley, there’s. There’s more out there that someone else can offer playing time, shots, share, you know, ball handling, shares, all that sort of stuff. So it makes sense to me that the Cavs are sniffing around this. I don’t know that it makes sense for Malik Beasley to choose this situation.
Chris Fedor: Remember when Kobe Altman talked about at his end of season press conference, you know, there’s this space that we’re now in and we like living in it and we’re comfortable living in it. These are the kinds of decisions that the Chicago Bulls don’t have these kinds of decisions to make. Right. The Charlotte Hornets don’t have these kinds of decisions to make. When you’re a team like the Cavs, when you’re a team like the Knicks, when you’re a team historically like the Celtics, when you’re a team historically like the Lakers, these are the opportunities that in some cases get handed to you guys. Take less to join. You guys are willing to, to latch on even though there’s an uncertain role. Look, if I’m Malik Beasley, I’m more into the idea of joining the New York Knicks because I think they would have a better need for what I bring to the table and I think there’s a bigger opportunity for me in New York. They’re still trying to replace the three point shooting that they lost from Dante DiVincenzo last year. They’ve spent a lot of this off season trying to revamp their bench and fortify their bench and make it so that they don’t completely crush Rumble when Jalen Brunson is off the floor. But it’s still not to a point where they’re 11, 12 deep. And if Malik Beasley goes to the Knicks, he’s just going to get buried on the depth chart. There is a chance that he joins the Cavs and just gets buried on the depth chart. There is that possibility. There’s also the possibility that he’s better than Sam Errol, maybe. Possibly. So that would be the other way that I would flip it on you guys is you said, jimmy, do the Cavs need somebody like Malik Beasley? I mean, no. We’re talking about the last, the theoretical last open roster spot that the Cavs are willing to give somebody because they’re going to keep number 15 open because that’s just what they do and because of the salary cap situation that they’re in. So we’re talking about the last theoretical roster spot and whoever it is that they would be looking at for this thing is going to be flawed in a significant way. But the question becomes, how comfortable are you with Sam Merrill as the backup shooting guard? How comfortable are you with Sam Merrill in a more consistent, expanded role than what he’s had in the past. And if your answer is I’m not entirely comfortable, or I’m not as comfortable as the Cavs are, given what the Cavs were willing to commit to him financially, well, then Malik Beasley is an outstanding insurance policy. Because Sam Merrill can’t handle the increased responsibility if he can’t handle the increased pressure that comes with this contract that he has never had before in the NBA and this role that he has never had in the NBA before on a team with championship aspirations. Well, here’s a guy that you know can do it. Yeah, there are questions about him defensively. Yeah, there are questions about his streakiness. Yeah, there are questions about his shot selection. But on this team, he just becomes a specialist in that kind of role, and he becomes insurance for what you believe is a better version of Sam Merrill than what you’ve had before, but may not be ready for. It’s a wait and see approach with him.
Ethan Sands: So I guess the question then becomes, what would you rather have Malik Beasley or Sam Merrill?
Chris Fedor: No, I don’t think that’s the question. No, and I don’t think that has to be the question. But. But I think it’s just you have in. In insurance, you have depth, you have a little bit more comfort than. Than what you have going into the season right now. Because Sam Merrill can’t handle the role, the expanded role. And if he can’t handle this new responsibility that he’s going to have. Where do the Cavs turn currently with. With the way that their roster is constructed? It’s probably, what, more minutes? More minutes for Max Struse, maybe more minutes for Donovan Mitchell, more minutes for Tyrese Proctor. And he may not be ready for that as a rookie physically, maybe from a maturity standpoint, maybe from a mental standpoint, but from a physical standpoint, is he ready for that on a team that is a legitimate contender? So if Sam can’t handle it, the Cavs believe he can. That’s why they gave him the contract that they did. But. But if he can’t handle it, what’s the backup plan now as it’s currently constructed?
Jimmy Watkins: Yeah, that’s a strong sell from the Cavs perspective. I think any. Any sort of rotation. We’ve been. I mean, I’ve been barking up this tree all summer about how it doesn’t even have to be like, yes, Sam Merrill in a. In a larger role. That could be someone that the Cavs need to upgrade upon at some point during the season. But again, even if this is a Alonzo Ball, another Lonzo Ball. Insurance policy and insurance, not a one to one. Obviously Malik Easley is not the defender that Lonzo Ball is. But again, 14th roster spot, if you get a warm body that can, that can give you 10 minutes in the playoffs, I’d call that a win from the 14th roster spot and Malik Easley could actually give you more than that. So I, I get it, I really do get it from that perspective. And the, again, the gamble is there is no gamble really, because if it doesn’t work out with Malik Beasley, if he has, if this, if there’s ends up being more that comes out of this investigation, it doesn’t work out, or he has trouble bouncing back from it. I mean, we saw after, after, after the, the Terry Rosier gambling probe, which I think he was also eventually, I don’t think he was ever charged officially with anything. Like the dude just fell apart. He has just never been the same player since he was like a 21 point per game scorer for the Hornets that he gave up a first round pick for him. Thought he would be a big part of their, their team going forward. He’s just a nothing burger for them. It’s, it’s a puzzling situation over there. If that happens, the Cavs go, well.
Chris Fedor: Man, trying to play basketball with, you know, a federal investigation over your head.
Jimmy Watkins: Oh, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s crazy. Yeah. But, but if that happens here when Lake Beasley just said, okay, minimum, bye, didn’t work out, we tried, we failed, we’ll get, we’ll get up tomorrow morning and, and do it all over again. And I would, I would still say from the Malik Beasley perspective, me competing with Sam Merrill for minutes doesn’t sound like the most appealing situation for me.
Chris Fedor: I don’t think Malik looks at it and says, oh my gosh, like Sam Merrill, what an impediment to me, you know, he was one of the best six men in the NBA. But it’s coming to a situation where there is a guy there that the organization just invested in and this coaching staff clearly has an affinity for.
Ethan Sands: So I wanted to just run through a couple of Malik Beasley’s stats and what he was able to accomplish in the 2024, 2025 season. Obviously he was first in bench points per game and a minimum of 60 games played. But we also know Malik Beasley played in all 82 games last season. He was second in total three pointers made, second in bench three pointers made, fifth player ever with 300 or more three pointers made. It was also the most threes ever by a Piston in franchise history and he joined Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry as the only players ever with.300 or more three pointers made on a.40 or better three point percentage in a season. Just going into his official stats, he averaged 16.3 points per game on 41.6% from deep, 43% from the field in 27.8 minutes per game and again 82 games and just 18 starts. But the other portion of this that we kind of alluded to and went into slightly is the contract situations around the league and who was capable and able of giving him more money that he might want to redeem because of what he’s lost. And obviously the other portion of this is the Detroit Pistons, as Chris was mentioning, had set to complete a three year, $42 million contract with Malik Beasley, which was halted when the allegations came out. And as of Friday, to say this as blatantly as possible, Malik Beasley was labeled as no longer a target of the federal gambling investigation conducted by the Eastern District of New York, according to his attorneys.
Chris Fedor: Nobody knows who these guys are, right? They’re just attorneys.
Ethan Sands: And that was a report put out by ESPN on Friday. So again, I agree with Jimmy. Who knows if there’s more to come out of this conversation of this message investigation. The NBA hasn’t said that it’s done with. Yes, but you’re an organization, you kick the tires.
Chris Fedor: It doesn’t mean you’re committing to it. No, just because the Cavs are showing interest, just because the Knicks are showing interest, it doesn’t mean that those teams are going to go out and sign. It just means that they’re showing interest and they’re doing their due diligence and they’re talking to the people that they need to talk to and they’re trying to figure out, okay, does this make sense for us? Does this make sense for Malik? Is this a fit for us from a culture standpoint? Is this a fit for us from an on court standpoint? All that kind of stuff. The Cavs are in no rush to make any kind of determination on what they’re going to do with their theoretical final roster spot? It’s clear that they’ve been in no rush to do that. It’s late August at this point in time and it’s still technically available. You know, I don’t think they’ve made a determination on the particular position that they’re looking for with this open roster spot. But as Jimmy Keeps saying, what’s the downside? What’s the downside to considering this possibility? What’s the downside to looking at a possibility of bringing in this kind of player? Because this isn’t the same situation. You know, we talked in the past on this podcast about Russell Westbrook. Ethan, I think you brought up Russell Westbrook, and, like, that’s a whole different situation. And that’s a future hall of Famer who still believes he has a status, who isn’t just going to sign with a team to be guy number 14. Malik Beasley is in a different situation. Malik Beasley is in a situation where it’s late August, he missed out on all the money in free agency. Like I said, he needs to repair his reputation and repair his value. He may just be looking for, is there any opportunity, any NBA opportunity where I don’t have to go to Shanghai? You know what I mean? Like, that’s way different in this kind of. And that’s the type of guy that you’re willing to bring on board because you’re saying to yourself, well, he’s not going to ruffle fenders. He’s not going to start complaining about playing time. He’s. He’s just happy to be in the NBA. He’s just happy to have some kind of contract. He’s just happy to have what seems like a big deal off the court. Somewhat emphasis on. Somewhat behind him at this point.
Jimmy Watkins: And he should be as motivated as he’s ever been in his entire career. So, like, role acceptance. Yeah, I’ll accept whatever role you give me. Shot selection, you know, like, beggars can’t be choosers. I’m just.
Chris Fedor: I’m just.
Jimmy Watkins: If I’m open in the corner, yeah, I’ll shoot it. But, Donovan, tell me what you want me to do. I will do it. If you. I mean, again, Malik Beasley’s defensive concerns have as much to do with, like, Malik Beasley’s stature than it does with, like, efforts. But, like, you’re going to get maximum effort. He’ll be diving on the court for loose balls. This is a guy who thought he was getting three years, 42 million this summer or whatever it was. Now he’s not. He’s in. I mean, he’s in the prime of his career. These should be his prime. Making, like, money making years. He’s probably got one chance left. Even. Even in a normal circumstance, probably was going to be his last sizable contract in the NBA. Like, there’s some real, real urgency here. So if you. If you. If you Thread the needle the right way here. If you introduce him to the culture the right way and you find that he’s, he’s still the player that he was last year or something close to it. Even, even the 82 game version of Malik Beasley, you find out he’s not as good in the playoffs. He’s a very valuable regular season player if it works out. And again, if it doesn’t work out, oh, well, we gave him the minimum. It doesn’t really matter. And one more, just because we brought a Brussel Westbrook, I have to brighten this up. The Sacramento Kings. The Sacramento Kings. What are you doing? What are you doing? You’re the one streets of the Sacramento Kings are trying to trade Malik Monk, comma, who is a better player than Russell Westbrooks at this stage of his career and an integral part of the most recent winning culture, maybe the only winning culture in Malik Monk’s life, honestly, that the Sacramento Kings have ever had. They’re trying to get off of Malik Monk so they can sign Russell Westbrook on a team that already includes Zach Lavine. And like, what are you doing? What is happening over there? I, I, I just can’t fathom that.
Chris Fedor: Before you went on a sidebar there, you bring up a point about Malik Beasley and whether he’s playable in the playoffs. You know, that’s something else from a Cavs standpoint, doesn’t matter all that much. Right? Like if Malik Beasley is unplayable from a defensive perspective on a Detroit Pistons team that needs him to be playable because they’re relying on him to be their six men and because they’re paying him 13 to 15 million dollars annually, then that’s an oh, right. That’s the situation that the Cavs ran into with Isaac Coro. In our situation, from a salary perspective and for what we’re competing for, we cannot have an unplayable playoff commodity making 11 million. We can’t do that. We can’t justify that in our salary situation. So if that was the case for Malik in Detroit, and I’m not saying that it was, they played him in the playoffs. But if that was the case for him in Detroit, okay, that could potentially be crippling for the Cavs. If that’s the case, then it’s just guy number 14 not being part of your playoff rotation, and guy number 14 usually isn’t part of your playoff rotation.
Ethan Sands: So I just wanted to get into the contracts that we were going into a little bit there. Malik Beasley isn’t not used to a one year deal either. Right? Because he just had a one year deal with Detroit last year. I mean, that he signed in the 2024 off season. But obviously as the Pistons were waiting on the decisions to be made on his gambling accusations, they signed Caris Lavert, they signed Duncan Robinson, they signed Javante Green. Two of those players the Cavs are extremely familiar with. Now they’re only capable of signing Malik Beasley to a $7.2 million contract. Teams that have an exception to sign Beasley to a contract greater than 7.2 million, as Chris was kind of getting into a little bit earlier, are not going to be contenders this coming season. Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards, and the Brooklyn Nets, of course, have cap space of more than $20 million. Also, I think it’s interesting because as this news was circulating, the interwebs, everybody was showing clips of the 2024 and 2025 season where Malik Beasley had some questionable plays.
Chris Fedor: He has had questionable plays since he came into the NBA. That’s, that’s nothing new. He’s like the true definition of a wow, what player? Like, he’ll go on a heater and I’ll make seven threes in the game and you’re like, wow. And then other games you’re like, what the hell are you doing? How the heck are you in the six man of the year conversation? That’s just kind of who he is. So, like, I don’t know if that’s gambling probe related. I don’t know if that’s. I mean, I think you can pull up lots of clips of lots of guys throughout the course of history that are just that type of player where it does kind of seem like there might be something happening from a gambling perspective, but it’s just who they are as a player. They pull up old stuff of J.R. smith and you’re like, what the heck? Hello, NBA Finals, end of the game situation. Even LeBron James is like, have you played basketball before? Like organized, real basketball? Like, what are you doing? This is kind of who Malik Beasley is. So I know that those clips are circulating and stuff like that, but I bet you can find some from Malik Beasley’s rookie year that are just like that before gambling became normalized.
Ethan Sands: For clarification, the 2023, 2024 season was the biggest year that was under the microscope when it came to this federal gambling investigation. And I know I said the NBA really didn’t say anything, but the nbpa, the national basketball players association did reiterate to ESPN on Friday saying that there has been no evidence of more of an issue with gambling in the league outside of. Of John Tay Porter, who was banned from the NBA after legal investigation.
Jimmy Watkins: Some real legalese happening there.
Chris Fedor: Yes.
Jimmy Watkins: The fact that we have had two more investigations. I would suggest there’s a little evidence that, that enough evidence to be investigated. How about that? That people thought there might be some more. More gambling. We’re seeing across sports. That is a massive problem right now. So. But yes, the MBPA’s statement, legally that does stand. If I’m Malik Beasley, I don’t think, I don’t think that there’s a team out there that would give him more than the minimum. But if there, if there was. Yeah, given again the other financial information like we got, I think the Detroit. It was the Detroit News reporting that. Apologize if I’m crediting that wrong. Was reporting that like he got evicted from an apartment. He has this crazy, this crazy tab at a barber shop that he. All this stuff that he’s not paying.
Chris Fedor: Which indicates, you don’t know, get evicted from an apartment. It was an apartment complex that is part of the Dan Gilbert properties.
Jimmy Watkins: There you go. There you go. So maybe, maybe a minimum will give back. If the Cavs are, the Cavs are interested in him would be the, the terms there. But I’m just saying this, I don’t know but this stuff indicates to me that there is fina. There could be financial trouble in Malik Beasley’s life. So in that case, I would think every, every cent matters in this, in this negotiation. Again, I don’t think there’s any team in the NBA that would be willing to pay him more than the minimum right now. But if any team did want to separate themselves right now, any of these, you know, $7.2 million exception teams that don’t seem like much, if they were to throw that, that money on the table, I wonder if that would change the equation.
Chris Fedor: Fair.
Ethan Sands: And I know we did talk about the Sam Merrill topic of this and maybe I worded it wrong. The question who would you rather have. Now I want to ask that question just to get conversation flowing. Who would you guys rather have if you, if it was a one to one situation, Sam Merrill or Malik Beasley? Because I think it’s interesting what their skill archetypes kind of look like and the success that Malik Beasley has had. But obviously this is also separating from what the contract that Sam Merrill just received and the confidence that the organization has placed in him. Because of said contract and the expectation of what he’s going to be able to produce under this new contract. But if it was a one to one, no nonsense, no, no, no contract involved, no confidence behind it, who would you rather have?
Chris Fedor: From an encore perspective? It’s Malik Beasley. He’s accomplished more throughout the course of his career. He was in the sixth man of the year conversation. He was one of the bench leaders in scoring in the NBA last year. There’s just more of a reputation, there’s more of a known commodity to Malik and the kind of role that he has had throughout the course of his career. What the Cavs will probably be asking of Sam Merrill, Malik has shown that he can do that at a higher level. So I think there are just more on court questions about Sam Merrill’s readiness for the role that the Cavs are going to be putting him in. In saying that his cutting is a huge asset to the Cavs, his movement, shooting is a huge asset to the Cavs. The way that he moves around the court and how many miles he runs every single time he gets on the floor, that’s integral to everything that the Cavs do. And it’s not a surprise to me that Kenny Atkinson in the kind of offense that, that he has always envisioned as a head coach. It’s not a surprise to me that he has been so attached to Sam Merrill since big basically the minute he got this Cavs job. Because the kind of player that Sam is and the skill set that he brings to the table, Kenny has always had that at every single stop, whether he was a head coach or whether he was an assistant. And he values that greatly. And from that perspective, I think Sam does those kinds of things better than Malik. But in totality, I, I would think that the answer is Malik Beasley. And I can’t imagine too many people saying otherwise.
Jimmy Watkins: Yeah, Just pulled up real quick on NBA.com, malik Beasley was taking about four pull up shots a game last year during the regular season, and it might have been during the playoffs, I don’t know. I’m just whipping around the NBA tracking data right now. And Sam Merrill in the playoffs wasn’t able to take it, won a game. So there’s a little bit of a difference between these guys. I think Sam Merrill fits the Kenny system a little bit better. Again, Malik Beasley should be willing to fit whatever system he gets thrown into at this point. And I think that motivation would be there. It’s really not a contest if we’re talking just basketball we’re as we know as Kenny Atkinson has told us from the moment he got here, it’s a little bit deeper than that. We’re trying to build a culture and they’ve done a good job doing that. And Sam is, is a guy in particular that Kenny has. Has gravitated toward it. It would be a little awkward for the Cavs to even. Even if it’s the correct basketball decision, kind of nudge it. One of their like one of their brightest success stories, like a gem that they found developed to. Turned into a rotation player. Turned into a rotation player after changing coaches, like believed in him to that degree. Like Sam Merrill after the coaching change. Kenny Atkinson’s like, I think there’s more in this guy. Like I think I see what you see. Kobe and he’s. And they’re right. There is a little bit more. Samuel’s probably still closer to like a specialist than an everyday rotation player in my opinion. But the cap, I think the cap showed that there’s a little bit more meat on that bone last year and they deserve kudos for that. And then to bring in this guy, albeit a good basketball decision, that would be a small crack in the culture. I think it’s a good. It also, it’s also Samuel is a well liked guy, well respected guy in the locker room that would be.
Chris Fedor: And his number one ally happens to be the leader of this team, Donovan Mitchell.
Jimmy Watkins: And I think like. Like I said at the top here, I think the Cavs culture is strong enough to withstand a small crack like that, but it’s not nothing. And think about this. So the ca. The Cavs would have let Ty Jerome go this off season, who is a childhood friend of Donathan Mitchell’s, who is the best friend of DeAndre Hunter, who is a piece that they’re still kind of trying to figure out how to fit into this. It’s been a little bit awkward for him since he got here. And then they be kind of nudging Sam Merrill or at least creating competition for Sam Merrill. When Sam Merrill, probably for the first time in his life after when he signed that contract is probably feeling there. I got some security in the NBA, right. That’s tough. It’s now it’s a business. NBA talent comes first. Winning comes first. If Malik Beasley brings the Cavs closer to a championship than Sam Merrill, I think the team would accept it. But it would be in a, In a. During a regular season that is already going to be rocked with tension and, and awkwardness. Like the whole. We outlined this A thousand times on the pod. Nothing you can do in the regular season can help improve your standing. It can only hurt your standing. And we’ve been tiptoeing around like, could this actually, could this be like a one of the first dramatic regular seasons, semi dramatic regular seasons we’ve had with the Cavs? It would be following following this playoff exit up with this kind of off season where you’re making life harder on one locker room favorite and straight up saying goodbye to another one would be a test of the. Of the Cavs culture.
Chris Fedor: Let’s just reiterate this. The Cavs love Sam Merrill. They committed to him for a reason. I do believe that they acquired the G League draft pick in order to draft him specifically because they were looking at him and they wanted to bring him to their program in some way. And when they finally felt like he was ready for a call up from the G League, they wasted no time giving him a standard NBA contract. So this is somebody that the organization values as at a high level. This is somebody that the organization felt really comfortable committing to, especially this offseason when they did kind of have a financial crunch and they did have some difficult roster related decisions to make. Never in their mind did they think, we got to move on from Sam Merrill like they wanted Sam here. They feel like he is a big time value to this team. They felt like he showed a lot on the defensive end of the floor, especially in that series against Indiana. And I don’t think they’ll ever say it publicly, but. But I think they were more concerned about Ty Jerome’s playoff viability than they were about Sam Merrill’s playoff viability. So this isn’t a situation where the Cavs are looking to themselves and saying, we made a mistake giving him this kind of commitment, this kind of contract. We need to fix this. Or something along those lines. Or we don’t like the way that our roster sets up because we have questions about Sam Merrill. So let’s find somebody that can make us feel a little bit better. I think this is just in a vacuum. It’s this opportunity that should not be presented to the Cavs at this point of the off season. It’s an opportunity that shouldn’t be presented to the New York Knicks at this point in the off season. And it’s an opportunity that no other team other than the Detroit Pistons were going to have this off season because the Detroit Pistons came into this off season saying, we’re bringing back Malik Beastly. That’s part of the way that we’re going to use our cap space that we have. And then once everything happened off the floor, they had to pivot and they went a completely different direction and they had to change their whole off season free agency approach because they’re trying to compete too, and they need guys that are going to help them. And that’s why they brought in Duncan Robinson. That’s why they brought in, you know, Caris Lavert. So from the Cavs perspective, this isn’t a situation where they’re saying, we don’t feel comfortable with Sam. We’ve got to bring in Malik Beasley. This is, hey, look, it’s August 25th. We’ve got only the veterans minimum. What this is the most talented guy that is out there that we could potentially sign that may have an interest in joining our team as well. Is there something that works here on both sides?
Ethan Sands: Yeah. And I’m in complete agreement with you guys. I think the most interesting part of this is how Malik Beasley’s shot chart would change.
Chris Fedor: Right.
Ethan Sands: He averaged last season 13.1 attempts per.
Chris Fedor: Game from the field.
Ethan Sands: 9.3 of those came from the three point range. Obviously we also have the conversation about Sam Merrill, who averages six shots a game in 5.2 of those were from beyond the arc, obviously in almost nine minutes less on the floor per game. But I think that that would be an interesting change to Malik Beasley’s game. How often he would be asked to do that, especially having more talent around him in general. And also obviously the Detroit Pistons needed him to take those shots to space the floor. And all those things with Tim Hardaway Jr. Con, what does that say with Duncan Robinson now available, what would that say? What would that do for his role? So my last question for you guys would be, if Malik Beasley were to resign with the Detroit Pistons, and then you have a depth chart for the Pistons of Caris Lavert, Duncan Robinson, Ron Holland, Paul Reed, Malik Beasley, Marcus Sasser, alongside their starting lineup of Cade Cunningham, J. Nivey, Asara Thompson, Tobias Harris and Jalen Duran. Obviously, Isaiah Stewart’s in there at some point as well. Do you think that changes the Detroit Pistons odds of having success in the playoffs, or do you think it changes how the Cavs view them as a threat in the Eastern Conference?
Chris Fedor: No, I mean, I think first off, I, I, it feels like to me Detroit has mentally moved on from Malik Beasley and they feel good about the other moves that they have made to, to cover up that weakness and fill that particular hole in saying that if he were theoretically to go back to Detroit does that? No, that doesn’t change anything. It certainly makes them better. It makes them deeper. We saw the kind of value that he had. We saw that he fits in that system. We saw that he fits around that group of players. He’s probably more playable than Duncan Robinson. But. But I don’t think Malik Beasley is a needle mover from that perspective for that kind of team. Right. Detroit’s going to have to do. Their players from an internal perspective are going to have to make a significant leap for them to. To get into the tier that the Cavs are in, that the Knicks are in. It’s going to take a little bit more than just bring back Malik Beasley.
Jimmy Watkins: You want to talk about awkward locker room stuff? Malik Beasley coming back to Detroit after they gave $16 million a year to Duncan Robinson to replace him. Oops. Malik’s back and he’s better than you. Duncan Robinson. Sorry about that. You want to go be an expensive end, a bench guy again like you were in Miami? No, I don’t think he wants that. I. I think honestly, Malik Beasley probably looking at that situation like it’s not the best one for him at this point either. I. I will say if they could somehow figure out a way to make it out, to make it work, I should say the. You could put a lot of space, spacers around Cade. The. The Pistons could have some pretty interesting offensive lineups now. They’d be getting completely torched on the other end. So I don’t know what the net gain is there, but it’d be interesting to experiment with.
Ethan Sands: I just think the depth part of it makes it interesting, especially going from a team that had no shooters basically outside of Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. To being surrounded by shooters might change the outcome of some of the Pistons thoughts in those things. But I just think the Cavs are also just on a different tier than Detroit at this point, and they haven’t proven to be a playoff success team. So I think the Pistons are still trying to prove themselves. The Cavs are still trying to prove themselves in a playoff sense as well, but there’s a different level of understanding when it comes to these two teams. So while Detroit is a gritty, grimy team that will get nasty with you if need be, and that’s probably the biggest reason they could be seen as a threat to the Cavs in an Eastern Conference matchup. But I just think the Cavs just overall have more talent in that pool and are able to distribute a lineup that can attack what Detroit has as weaknesses as well.
Chris Fedor: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s up to Detroit, I think it’s up to Atlanta, I think it’s up to Orlando to prove this year that they can get to the regular season tier of the Cavs and the Knicks and all those teams certainly have to show it, just like the Cavs have to show that they can be a viable playoff contender. There’s a lot to prove from that perspective. But but Detroit has to show that they can get to that regular season tier as as those other teams. The other thing that I’ll say is aside from Russell Westbrook, Malik Beasley is probably the most playable commodity in free agency right now. So if it were being Detroit, if it were whoever has an interest, adding that guy it again, it’s not going to be a significant landscape shifting move, but it would be a big it would be a big coup at this point of the off season to whatever team is is comfortable enough with the Malika Beasley situation to sign him. If we get more information about the off off court troubles not being as problematic as as maybe what they seem to be right now. Because beyond Russell Westbrook and Malik Beasley, you’re talking about guys who you have to squint and you have to really convince yourself to see a viable NBA rotational caliber play.
Jimmy Watkins: Thinking about JB Bickerstaff defense versus JB Bickerstaff trying to put together lineups with Malik Beasley and Duncan Robinson in the rotation. Yeah, I don’t know about that.
Chris Fedor: Tough. For as much of a wizard as he is, that would be tough. That would be a challenge for even him.
Ethan Sands: And I think that’s a great way to end today’s podcast. So with all that being said, that’ll wrap up today’s episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. But remember to become a CALS insider and interact with Chris, me and Jimmy by subscribing to Subtext. This is where you can send in your weekly hey Chris questions so we can talk to you about what you want to hear at this point in the summer about the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sign up for a 14 day free trial or visit cleveland.comcavs and click on the blue bar at the top of the page. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. All you have to do is text the word stop. It’s easy, but we can tell you that the people who sign up stick around because this is the best way to get insider coverage on the Cavs from me, Chris and Jimmy. This isn’t just our podcast, it’s your podcast. And the only way to have your voice heard is through subtext. Y’ all be safe. We out.
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