The Brooklyn Nets have went through this offseason while addressing the future needs of a franchise that is looking to rebuild to a playoff contender in short order. Brooklyn has not done much in the way of adding marquee free-agents, but Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley is presumably available to be signed. The Nets don’t seem interested in the sharpshooter, though.
“While it’s possible the Brooklyn Nets could pursue Beasley using their cap space, multiple league sources have shot down such an idea as a result of the Nets’ rebuilding plans and focus on youthful talents,” ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel wrote. Siegel noted that there are a few teams that have the cap space to sign Beasley to a bigger offer than the Pistons can, but the Nets aren’t expected to be one of those teams.
Beasley is no longer the target of a federal gambling investigation, according to a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania on Friday in which the NBA insider indicated that Beasley’s free-agency could “reopen” soon. However, while Beasley is no longer a target in the federal probe, he “is still a subject in it, which means he can still be charged with a crime if he’s found of wrongdoing,” as a result of the investigation, per Alex Schiffer of Front Office Sports.
That kind of uncertainty could give Nets general manager Sean Marks cause to pause, especially if he were to offer Beasley more money than what the Pistons or another contending team can pay him. Beasley, 28, averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 43.0% from the field and 41.6% from three-point land for a Detroit team that made it to the first round of the playoffs.
Part of Beasley’s appeal to a team like the Nets would be his ability to shoot the three-pointer, especially when one considers that Brooklyn selected five players in the 2025 NBA Draft that could have accuracy issues from that distance. Brooklyn had just two players from last season that shot a better percentage from deep than Beasley: forward Dariq Whitehead (44.6%) and forward Dorian Finney-Smith (43.5%), whom Brooklyn traded to the Los Angeles Lakers prior to the trade deadline.