According to previous reports, 2008 leader Michael Beasley has been training to maintain his form and try to return to the league.
This article was originally published by Hoophype, a conversation between Michael Scotto and Beasley after a training session.
Q: Before you can be positive for COVID-19, you will be playing for the Nets in the rematch park. You're about to return to the NBA, what were your thoughts at the time?
Beasley: I had food poisoning in the park. On my fourth or fifth day in quarantine, I woke up one morning and vomited about 20 times. I had to go to the hospital and then I learned I had COVID-19.
Q: What have you been busy with since then?
Beasley: I've been in the gym, practicing hard and trying to be positive. Luckily I've been with some great guys, and I've been training with Wall, Evans, and a few others. I try to focus my energy on my goal [to return to the NBA], no matter how unrealistic it may seem. I have dreams, and I want to be remembered – not because of anything else, but because I fought for my dreams. For the past three years, I've been in the gym every day honing my skills to make myself stronger, refining my jump shots and ball holding, practicing one-on-one defense and five-on-five defense. I have always been a student of the competition and keep repeating the process.
Q: What are the reasons for signing you with an NBA team?
Beasley: The first of course is my scoring ability, which is well known. Other than that, I don't think my mindset was ever shown. I think I have a deep understanding of the game, both offensively and defensively. I want to show people that I can defend, that I'm not just a scorer, that I can influence the game in a lot of different ways.
Q: When you see some of the other veterans get ten-day contracts, what do you think about their return? Does this light up a ray of hope for you and give you an opportunity?
Beasley: 100 percent, I'm happy for these people. I've been training with a few of them for the past few years. Brandon Knight, Chalmers. I'm excited to see my wonderful friends get a chance. At the same time, it just motivates me to work harder and keep going. Giving up is the easiest thing to do, but I won't do it. I've been waiting for a call; I'll be ready when it comes.
Q: Regarding some of the views of the outside world about you, what do you disagree with or that you want to clarify?
Beasley: The perception of me from the outside world is all a misunderstanding. I watched them say what I thought, or how they thought I thought. That's why I rarely speak up now. I am not the person people think of me. One way I don't like it is that I don't work hard and feed only on talent. And I put so much into basketball, I train every day, I put in so much energy, tears, mistakes and repetition. But people say I rely only on talent, or that my career didn't work out because I didn't work hard enough. This statement torments me every day and is one of the reasons why I stay in the gym every day and work harder to train. These claims are false.