Malik Beasley Sends Strong Message to D’Angelo Russell Following Lakers Win

The Los Angeles Lakers got back into the win column on Tuesday, March 14, as they defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 123-108, courtesy of some stellar shooting across the board.

Throughout the contest, Malik Beasley was one of Los Angeles’ best perimeter threats, dropping 7 of his 12 three-point attempts, much to the delight of his teammates, especially D’Angelo Russell, who could be seen visibly cheering him on.

When speaking to the media during his post-game press conference, Beasley heaped praise on the support he receives from Russell and credited his impact as a teammate.

“Me and him been playing for a while now,” Beasley said, “So, I know his game. I know when he’s gonna pass it to me. I know when it’s his turn to get busy. But, for both of us, we just want to have success for both of us. If he’s hot, I’m cheering him on. If I’m hot, he’s cheering me on. To have a guard like that in your backcourt, that’s cheering you on, is huge. And, it gives me confidence, and I’m pretty sure the same from him.”

Russell and Beasley were teammates on the Minnesota Timberwolves between 2020 and 2022 before the sharpshooter joined the Utah Jazz as part of the blockbuster trade that sent Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves.

Anthony Davis Praises Malik Beasley’s Impact

During his own post-game press conference, superstar forward Anthony Davis spoke glowingly of Beasley’s performance, crediting the shooting gravity he provides for his team and how that forces defenses to open up.

“After shootaround today, he got a lot of threes up, and it showed,” Davis said, “He’s very hard on himself, and as far as shooting the basketball, he never wants to miss two in a row. And he came out on fire. Anytime he’s making shots, it just opens the floor up more for all our guys to get to the basket. Even when he’s missing, I mean, you still got to respect him as a shooter. But when he’s making, he gets very hot, and the rim gets very big for him.”

Austin Reaves Focusing on The Next Games

After a difficult season where the Lakers have been unable to find much of a rhythm, the purple and gold find themselves fighting for postseason qualification in a tightly contested Western Conference. 

Currently, the Lakers sit 10th in the West, just two games out of the sixth seed and one game ahead of the 12th seed. When speaking to the media following the Lakers’ win over New Orleans, Austin Reaves discussed how the team is approaching the final stretch of the season with playoff qualification hanging in the balance.

“It’s the nature of the NBA,” Reaves said, “Obviously, we dropped one to the (New York) Knicks; it hurt. We were in the game, couple of things went our way late; we could have won that game…You’ve really just gotta take it one game at a time. You can’t really worry about what’s going on outside of what we’ve gotta do. We approach every game to win, and then whatever happens on the backend happens.”

The Lakers will now turn their attention to the Houston Rockets, who they will face on Wednesday, March 15, in the second night of back-to-back games.