Northwest Notes: Beasley, Blazers’ Patch, Ainge, Timberwolves

Michael Beasley has agreed to play with the Trail Blazers’ summer league team in Las Vegas next month, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Beasley didn’t play in the NBA the last two seasons. He was signed as a substitute player with the Nets last summer but the contract was voided after he tested positive for the coronavirus.

The second overall pick in the 2008 draft, Beasley hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2018/19 campaign, when he averaged 7.0 PPG and 2.3 RPG in 26 games (10.7 MPG) for the Lakers. He was traded to the Clippers at the ’19 deadline and subsequently waived.

We have more from the Northwest Division:

• The Blazers have entered into a jersey patch agreement with StormX, Casey Holdahl of the team’s website writes. StormX is a company based out of Seattle that features an app which allows users to earn rewards, which are then paid out in cryptocurrency. They are the first NBA team to have a cryptocurrency as their jersey patch partner.
• Danny Ainge became a BYU legend 40 years ago and perhaps it’s time for him to return to Utah in an executive role with the Jazz, Jeff Call of the Deseret News opines. Ainge stepped down from his post with the Celtics but he still wants to be involved with the game, There have been rumors that Ainge could join the Jazz in an advisory role.
• The Timberwolves traded away their lottery pick and are pushed up against the luxury tax. ESPN’s Bobby Marks explores Minnesota’s potential offseason moves, noting that the team is limited to the $5.9MM taxpayer midlevel exception if it wants to sign a free agent. The Timberwolves could also choose to move some of their $35MM in expiring contracts, a group that includes Ricky Rubio, Juan Hernangomez, Jake Layman and Josh Okogie.