Michael Beasley was signed by the Nets last week as a substitute player after they had three players test positive for COVID-19 that either opted out or were ruled out of the NBA restart in Orlando. With Wilson Chandler opting out for family health reasons, the Nets were left with four open roster spots.
Beasley, along with Jamal Crawford and Tyler Johnson, were brought in to give the Nets a much-needed offensive boost with Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie out of the restart. However, on Tuesday, reports emerged that Beasley had become the eighth Nets player since March to test positive for the novel coronavirus from Tim Bontemps and Malika Andrews of ESPN and The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Nets forward Michael Beasley tested positive for coronavirus, returned home and his roster status is up in the air, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 14, 2020
According to Bontemps and Andrews, Beasley needed to test negative for six consecutive days after signing before he was allowed to join the team since he had not been part of testing prior to entering the bubble, and it appears that system caught this case before he interacted with his teammates.
It’s unfortunate for the Nets, who have recently also added Lance Thomas and Donta Hall to their roster, and will be restarting the season with a roster that is almost unrecognizable from the one they had in March. As both reports note, it’s unclear whether Beasley will attempt to rejoin the Nets in the bubble at some point in the future if he is cleared and can make it through another quarantine period in Orlando without a positive test.