Darvin Ham Sends Message on Malik Beasley After Lakers Beat Bulls

Getty Malik Beasley of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Los Angeles Lakers only have a few games left in the season to make a push for the playoffs. With how close the Western Conference standings are, they don’t have much room for error, but with how well they’ve been playing since the trade deadline, they have a chance to make some noise.

On Wednesday night, they took down the Chicago Bulls after losing to them the previous Sunday. Guys like Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves played well, but other players, like Malik Beasley, struggled. After the game, head coach Darvin Ham spoke about Beasley’s struggles.

“I don’t know if he’s lost confidence. He’s probably a little frustrated,” Ham said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “Again, I’m behind him 1,000%. And he’s going to continue to get his minutes. And we just got to continue to set great screens for him. Encourage him to continue to shoot the ball and to continue to compete defensively. There’s no magic pill. He’s just got to keep playing ball. Every night’s not going to be your night. In an 82-game season, you’re going to struggle. Have nights where you struggle. Same goes with Bron, AD, Austin, D-Lo [D’Angelo Russell], Dennis [Schroder]. Nobody. Nobody is 82-0 in terms of outstanding performances. So, you just got to continue to encourage him to do what he does, and I’m sure he’ll do that.”

PlayDarvin Ham Postgame Interview | Los Angeles Lakers dominate Chicago Bulls 121-110Darvin Ham Postgame Interview | Los Angeles Lakers dominate Chicago Bulls 121-1102023-03-30T02:40:30Z

Beasley’s minutes have been fairly inconsistent for the past few weeks, and he hasn’t been shooting well. Against the Bulls, he finished the game with zero points, one rebound, one assist, and two steals on 0-of-3 shooting from the field and 0-of-1 shooting from distance.

Troy Brown Jr. Sends Message on LeBron James

With James returning to the lineup, players’ minutes are going to change. When asked about the potential changes, Troy Brown Jr. admitted that there could be some potential difficulties now that James is back.

“I feel like there’s some good to it and some bad to it, honestly,” Brown said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “Just it being so quick. You kind of go to get used to it. Obviously, he plays a certain way. He moves the ball a certain [way]. We were playing a certain style, and then he comes back, and we have to adjust. So, it’s good to have these next two days to figure it out and get it together. Obviously, we’re very happy to have him back. But there are some things where it was like, ‘Dang, if we just had a little bit more practice, it definitely would have helped us.’ But we’re definitely happy to have him back.”

Anthony Davis Sounds Off on Patrick Beverley

In addition, after the game, Davis sounded off on Patrick Beverley, who went back and forth with Reaves. The Lakers guard did the “too small” celebration toward Beverley, who did it at James on Sunday. Davis spoke about the interaction.

“Yes, for sure. The crowd was into it, too. Having Pat Bev on here was obviously awesome,” Davis said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “That’s what he do. He was talking  [on] Sunday, and we came out and made sure that he don’t talk tonight. But it’s all love when we battling. Him awesome, obviously, have a great relationship. So, it was funny. He did it to Bron, and so Austin got some good back for Bron. So, we love to see it.”