Caris LeVert is already feeling comfortable with Detroit Pistons
New Detroit Pistons forward Caris LeVert details how he ended up signing with the team on Tuesday, July 29, 2025 in Detroit.
Former Detroit Pistons shooting guard Malik Beasley isn’t ruling out a return to Detroit.
In a Snapchat story posted from his bed Wednesday, Aug. 6, with dingy lighting and scratchy audio, Beasley — an NBA free agent — said he’s preparing to play in the upcoming 2025-26 season, despite having no reported contract offer from an NBA team after news broke a day before free agency of his involvement in a federal gambling investigation.
“We gotta be prepared to come back to the Pistons, or, like I said, there’s some other teams interested as well,” Beasley said in the video. He didn’t reveal which other teams have expressed an interest, nor the level of interest they have in signing him.
The Pistons initially offered Beasley a three-year, $42 million deal — Beasley confirmed Wednesday he was excited about the offer — but the contract negotiations stopped suddenly after a report surfaced of an FBI investigation into suspicious gambling activity involving Beasley while he was a member of the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2023-24 season.
Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon called the team’s pivot away from Beasley “disappointing,” as the team added free-agent shooter Duncan Robinson in a three-year sign-and-trade deal instead, and signed free agent wing Caris LeVert for two years.
Beasley’s off-the-court issues have extended beyond the gambling investigation. An investigation revealed Beasley is being sued by Hazan Sports Management Group and owes money to various creditors, including a money lender.
That could be a reason why Beasley, who set the Pistons’ franchise record for most 3-pointers in a season (319) hasn’t signed with an NBA team yet. According to his post, he’s using the league’s turn away from him as motivation.
“I got this new chip on my shoulder, of like ‘F the world,’ kind of,” he said. “You know, my back against the wall and nobody believes in me, everybody’s just saying what they’re saying. So, I got a new focus.”
In a separate post, Beasley acknowledged that he had “made mistakes,” but didn’t detail exactly what they were.
“Am I proud of those mistakes? No. I’m human.”
Beasley played in all 82 regular-season games for the Pistons in the 2024-25 season while finishing second in the NBA in 3-pointers made. His sharpshooting off the bench was a big reason the team made the playoffs for the first time since the 2018-19 season, as he averaged 16.3 points per game and finished second in the sixth man of the year vote.
Detroit still theoretically has room for Beasley on the roster, though the Robinson signing somewhat negates the need for high-level 3-point shooting. The former University of Michigan standout has averaged 39.7% shooting on 7.2 3-pointers per game for his career, numbers that eclipse Beasley’s career mark of 39.1%.
You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.