Tom Haberstroh stated that Micheal Beasley would always beat LeBron James when they played 1-on-1 during practice with the Miami Heat.
The Miami Heat won their first NBA title in 2006 but just two years later, the franchise found itself at the bottom, finishing with a 15-67 record. That did enable them, however, to land the talented Michael Beasley with the 2nd pick of the 2008 NBA Draft to form a promising duo with Dwyane Wade.
A scoring machine, Beasley was instant buckets when he got on the court but the deficiencies in the other aspects of his game meant he never quite became a star in the NBA. He was traded by the Heat in 2010 but returned in 2013, which meant he got to play alongside LeBron James. Beasley has never been someone who was short on confidence, even when he had to take on LeBron. Tom Haberstroh who covered the Heat for ESPN at the time, once spoke on the Back To Back podcast that Beasley would beat LeBron every single time that they played 1-on-1 in practice.
"Legit, in practice in Miami, I would watch these practices where LeBron and Michael Beasley would go at it — like one-on-one. And Beasley would beat him every time. He’s so good!"
Unfortunately, the link to the podcast no longer exists but it is crazy to think that LeBron lost every single time. Many would agree that LeBron was at his best when he was with the Heat and the fact that Beasley still got the better of him shows how much talent he had.
LeBron James Could Return To The Miami Heat
While Beasley has been out of the NBA for a while now, LeBron is still going strong. He is averaging 29.1 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 6.7 APG while shooting 51.0% from the field, remarkable numbers for someone in their 20th season. Despite James' exploits, the Los Angeles Lakers clearly need more pieces if they are to make some noise this season, but the front office hasn't made a move yet.
LeBron isn't too happy about the situation as you would expect and there are growing calls for him to leave the team after the season. An Eastern Conference executive says the Heat could land James if he does ask out as they would be open to a reunion. Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and LeBron would indeed be quite an intimidating Big 3.
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