Selected with the No. 2 overall pick in 2008, former NBA forward Michael Beasley still stands as the highest draft pick in Miami Heat franchise history. Unfortunately, his first stint with the franchise was over after two seasons, as the Heat dealt him to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2010 offseason.
However, Beasley said that longtime Heat president Pat Riley treated him “like a son” and that he still lives by the morals that the now 80-year-old taught him.
Michael Beasley:
“Jermaine O'Neal took me under his wing. But at the same time I was fighting Spo. And then I wasn't ready for Pat Riley, bro. And not in a bad way. Like man, Pat treated me like a son….He made me sit in his office every week, whether I was listening or not.… pic.twitter.com/TbberdHSnA
— Heat Diehards (@HeatDiehards) September 18, 2025
Maybe Beasley’s relationship with Riley helped him convince the team president to bring him back for a second stint beginning in the 2013-14 campaign. The second act of Beasley’s Heat career also lasted two seasons, though he didn’t have nearly the pressure on his back that he did when he had just been selected with the No. 2 overall pick.
He spent the first season of his second stint in Miami as a complementary role player in what turned out to be the swan song of the Big 3 era. Beasley averaged 7.9 points per game in primarily a bench role for a Heat team that came up just short of a title by losing in the 2014 NBA Finals.
Perhaps Beasley didn’t have a successful career for a No. 2 overall pick by conventional standards. He never took home a major individual award or championship. However, he still lasted 11 seasons in the league, and that itself is a major accomplishment. After all, the average career of an NBA player is around 4.8 years.
It’s no guarantee that Beasley would have stuck around in the league for as long as he did if he hadn’t started out his pro career in Miami and learned from Riley as a youngster.
It’s clear that Beasley still holds a tremendous amount of respect for Riley even though he’s so many years removed from last playing for the Heat organization. Heat fans should have fond memories of his playing days as well, even if he never lived up to the expectations he entered the league with.
