Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Sports
SportsVideo

Phoenix Suns Release Michael Beasley After Marijuana Bust

Posted byBy ABS Contributor | Published on: | Updated on March 25, 2016 CommentsComments (0)

The Phoenix Suns have cut Michael Beasley from the team. Citing “personal and professional conduct” issues, the organization decided to buy out the NBA player’s final two years of their contract agreement.

According to sources, Beasley agreed to a buyout price of a little less than the remaining $9.5 million of his guaranteed salary over the two years.

Beasley struggled with the Suns on and off the court. Last year, he feuded with coaches on the court and got into legal trouble off the court. The latest incident in August, when Beasley was arrested in Scottsdale on suspicion of marijuana possession, led to the Suns’ decision to part ways with him.

“The Suns were devoted to Michael Beasley’s success in Phoenix,” Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby said in a press release. “However, it is essential that we demand the highest standards of personal and professional conduct as we develop a championship culture. Today’s action reflects our commitment to those standards. The timing and nature of this, and all of our transactions, are based on the judgment of our basketball leadership as to how best to achieve our singular goal of rebuilding an elite team.”

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top