Malik Beasley Faces Two Felony Charges

Timberwolves swingman Malik Beasley faces a pair of felony charges related to his late-September arrest, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who tweets that Beasley is being charged with fifth-degree drug possession and threats of violence.

As Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News relays, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office issued a press release detailing the charges against Beasley and providing more details about the September 26 incident. According to the release, a family alleged that Beasley pointed an assault rifle at them when they were on the road outside his home:

“They stated they were on a Parade of Homes tour with their 13-year-old, when they pulled up to the roped-off residence, assumed it was closed, and decided to look for another home to view, the complaint says. The victims at the time were on the shoulder of the road in front of the roped-off house.

“The complaint continues, saying that the victims heard a tapping on the (vehicle’s) window and saw Beasley pointing the firearm at them, telling them to get off his property. The victims got back onto the road and saw Beasley pointing the rifle at them as they drove off.”

After obtaining a search warrant for Beasley’s home, officers found three firearms – including one matching the description of the assault rifle – and more than 835 grams of marijuana, according to the statement from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

Paul Walsh of The Star Tribune provided some additional details on the charges and allegations against Beasley.

“We are cooperating with the law enforcement investigation and will carefully review the discovery and charges in the coming days,” Beasley’s lawyers, Steve Haney and Ryan Pacyga, said in a joint statement, per Charania.

Beasley, who was traded from Denver to Minnesota at the February trade deadline, finished strong, averaging a career-best 20.7 PPG and shooting 42.6% on three-pointers in 14 games with the Timberwolves. He’ll be a restricted free agent this offseason and the team has suggested it plans to re-sign him, as executive VP Sachin Gupta reiterated on Wednesday.

“Essentially we’re not going to be a real big player in terms of cap room,” Gupta said when asked about the team’s cap situation, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. “But we do have plenty of room below the tax. We’ve got our own free agents with Malik and Juancho (Hernangomez) so with the Bird rights we’ll be able to re-sign those guys, and now with a No. 1 pick, that’s a bigger salary slot than maybe we would’ve expected prior to the lottery. … But we still feel good about having plenty of room below the tax to bring those guys back and also add in free agency as well.”

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