After the Minnesota Timberwolves declined to tender Beasley a $8.1 million qualifying offer to keep his rights, there was speculation as to how much he would be able to fetch in the open market. The former #2 overall pick of the 2008 draft has had a disappointing career to date, having already been traded once (for just a pair of second round draft picks) and posting career averages of just 15 points and 5 rebounds a game. While Beasley still shows a clear aptitude for scoring the basketball, his focus and dedication have been called into question, which , along with his off-court issues, could have potentially conspired to depress his market value in free agency (similar to Delonte West, for example).
Not so, apparently, as Beasley has agreed to a 3 year contract with the Phoenix Suns which pays out approximately $6 million a year. For all the aforementioned reasons, this seems like a very generous and rather risky contract. But on the other hand, its for relatively short money, and at worst, Beasley will be able to score points for a team that looks like it may struggle offensively next year. He’s not the most efficient player, but it was only a few seasons ago that he averaged nearly 20 points a game, and he’s still just 23 years old. For comparisons sake, another low-efficiency, no-rebounding scoring forward such as Glen Davis makes $6 million a year as well, and he has nowhere near the potential that Beasley still possess.
From this perspective, with little knowledge of the market conditions and the exact terms of the contract (e.g. the amount of guaranteed money and years), it seems like Phoenix overpaid for Beasley. If on the chance that he gets his act together (both on and off the court), we may be speaking of this deal in slightly different terms. However, count this blogger as skeptical.
