Malik Beasley opened up about the mental struggles that tanked his Lakers stint

Malik Beasley has some regrets about his time with the Lakers, and he’s not hiding from them. The veteran shooter, who’s still dealing with a gambling investigation that’s kept him out of the NBA, got honest about what was going on behind the scenes during that rough 2023 run in LA.

Beasley told content creator N3on that his head just wasn’t in the right place. I wished I played better with the Lakers, I was going through a lot of mental s*** during that time, he said, via HoopsHype. All the outside noise, like your regular life outside of basketball. Like for me, I didn’t know where to live. So, I lived in Beverly Hills, but it was like 40 minutes away from the arena and 40 minutes away from the practice facility. So, you had to pick which one either you wanted to live close to the arena or close to the practice facility.

The contrast with his previous stop was stark. You go to Utah, it’s everything right in the same gym, he said. He also mentioned public issues with my teammates and other stuff like that plus problems at home with his ex, Montana Yao. He summed it up simply: It just wasn’t the best mental situation.

His numbers in LA were ugly, but he bounced back big

Beasley averaged 11.1 points on 39.2 percent shooting from the field and 35.3 percent from three in 26 regular-season games after the Lakers traded for him. The playoffs were worse — a brutal 29.4 field goal percentage over 11 games. He never looked comfortable.

But he got his groove back. His stint with the Milwaukee Bucks was solid, and then he had a full resurgence with the Detroit Pistons in 2024-25. He shot 41.6 percent from deep, finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting, and helped turn around what had been a dead-in-the-water franchise. He was set to sign a three-year, $42 million deal to stay in Detroit before the gambling allegations surfaced.

Beasley says he’s innocent and wants back in the league. For now, he’s played in Puerto Rico for Bad Bunny’s team, Cangrejeros de Santurce. The investigation still hasn’t been resolved.

At 29, Beasley sounds like he’s doing some real reflecting on that chaotic Lakers chapter. He owned the mental weight he was carrying. Whether Lakers fans get closure from it or not, he seems to be working on his own.