Shooting is the one glaring need that the Portland Trail Blazers have failed to address throughout their entire rebuild. Portland had a prime opportunity to finally add it in the form of sharpshooter Malik Beasley, but that now appears to be off the table.
Dusan Markovic of Nova.rs reports that Beasley is in advanced talks pertaining to a rest-of-season contract with Partizan Belgrade. That deal is rumored to be in the $2 million range and, most significantly for teams like the Blazers, wouldn't include an NBA opt-out clause.
The Trail Blazers still need to add shooting
It's somewhat surprising that Beasley isn't attempting to return to the NBA. He's still in his prime at 29 years old and coming off a productive season with the Detroit Pistons in which he averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists on 43/42/68 shooting splits.
Of course, the elephant in the room is the gambling allegations Beasley has faced, which seems to be playing a factor in this decision to remain overseas. Would the Blazers even want to risk taking on that potential headache after everything they've gone through with Chauncey Billups this season? It could've given many the wrong impression about the Blazers' organizational values.
But from a strictly on-court perspective, Beasley's shooting would've been a perfect fit in Portland. He's a career 39.1% three-point shooter; that would've done wonders for a Blazers offense that finished in the bottom five in three-point efficiency the past two seasons and ranks second-worst in that department this season at 33.0%.
Adding a reliable floor spacer like Beasley is the obvious next step for the Blazers in their rebuild. With Deni Avdija playing at an All-Star level and Shaedon Sharpe continuing his upward trajectory, Portland needs to add complementary pieces for its existing offensive weapons that like to attack the paint.
If Beasley does wind up signing this rest-of-season contract, Portland will be forced to pivot to other options to address this issue. One player who is eligible to be traded on December 15 is Atlanta Hawks guard Luke Kennard, a career 43.8% shooter from beyond the arc.
It remains to be seen if Portland will have any interest in Kennard or adding any shooting for that matter by February's trade deadline. But they absolutely should, as it's going to be an uphill battle to end a four-year playoff drought without solving this roster problem that has been on full display during their 9-15 start to the season.