Lakers News: LA Set to Decline Malik Beasley’s Team Option

LA may be up to something here!

The Los Angeles Lakers are set to decline the $16.5 million contract option for guard Malik Beasley. It was announced by senior NBA reporter Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports... not too long after the news of Mo Bamba's waiving was revealed as well.

And unless they can find a trade here in the final hours, Los Angeles is expected to decline Malik Beasley's $16.5 million team option for the 2023-24 season. https://t.co/mDnYRudH9p

— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) June 29, 2023

This isn't much of a surprise but does signal that the Lakers may have something up their sleeves. Beasley was scheduled to make way too much money next season for a very lackluster performance with the team in the limited time he was with them.

Upon joining LA at the trade deadline, Beasley started off his career with the purple and gold strong but eventually found himself out of the rotation and was basically unplayable. 

He is a three-point snipper but rarely gives you anything else so when his shot wasn't falling, he was sent to the bench.

Before joining the Lakers, Beasley averaged 13.4 points per game and shot 35.9 percent from distance. After joining the Lakers, his points per game went down to 11.1 and his three-point percentage went down to 35.3. 

It wasn't the biggest drop off but for a team that was contending for a title, they couldn't have the decline on the floor.

Los Angeles also made a corresponding move to waive big man Mo Bamba and not guarantee his $10 million contract. Both of these moves signal that the Lakers will open up the non-taxpayer midlevel exception for the team. 

They have been linked with a few players in regards to that, including Denver Nuggets forward Bruce Brown.