Michael Beasley reveals how he became a punchline while mourning family deaths

While former NBA player Michael Beasley was mourning the loss of his mother and cousin, who died weeks apart from one another, he became a punchline in the NBA, unbeknownst to his teammates and fans.

At the time of their deaths, Beasley was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and told Shannon Sharpe on his Club Shay Shay podcast how some players that he looked up to were now laughing at him. He shared that while he had just buried his mother, he had also missed his cousin’s funeral to stay with his team. He had missed 13 games during the 2018-19 season to take care of his mother, and while still mourning her death and his cousin’s, he had attempted to clock into the game with his practice shorts on. The moment immediately got attention from fans and his teammates who began laughing at his mistake as they were unknowing his off-court personal dilemma.

“Magic Johnson and LeBron James, my favorite people. I couldn’t even be happy around them, because they was laughing too,” Beasley told host Shannon Sharpe on the Wednesday, April 22, episode of his Club Shay Shay podcast. “But nah, Josh Hart, I love him. I was on the bus one day, and I didn’t even know I was crying. I was just sitting there trying to be quiet. Josh Hart came up to me and gave me a hug, bro.”

Beasley continued, “He said, ‘I don’t know what you’re going through, dog, but you can come talk to me.’ And I never did, and I wish I did. But Josh Hart, he seen who I was, bro. I f*** with Josh, man.”

The former NBA star shared that his mother was hiding the severity of her illness from her before her passing. Fatima Smith died in 2018 before the start of his career with the Lakers. His cousin died

“He showed me the side she wasn’t showing us,” he shared. “So we didn’t know, but every day she would get up and make sure she took her morphine so she could have that phone call.”

He had in an internal struggle with learning his mother’s diagnosis given his estranged relationship with some of his family members.

Beasley added, “My mom was driving herself to chemo until they put her on hospice. She didn’t deserve that s***. And I was mad at her at that time because of my childhood. My dad told me some s*** at 25, and I cut my whole family off for three years.”

The former Laker ended his career with the team, but previously played for the Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, and the New York Knicks.

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