NBA mock draft: Where will Michigan State’s Cassius Winston, Xavier Tillman go?

Rival teams believe that the Utah Jazz have trade offers that include a first-round pick for Malik Beasley. Utah has been rumored to be shopping Beasley, almost since acquiring him over the summer.

Beasley has averaged 13.6 points in 53 games this season, mostly off the Jazz bench. The seventh-year wing is knocking down 36.2% of his 8.6 three-point attempts per game. Beasley is considered to be one of the best shooters available on the trade market.

Utah acquired Beasley from the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of the Rudy Gobert trade this past summer. The veteran wing is owed $15.5 million for this season, with a $16.5 million team option for next season.

As the NBA continues to find ways to increase player availability for key and high-profile games, that has led to more back-to-backs being scheduled in 2024-25. Teams average 14.9 back-to-back games in next season’s schedule, which is up slightly from last season. That figure is still down considerably from a decade ago.

This season, the league has arranged the schedule to make sure no team is on a back-to-back ahead of opening week national TV games, holiday games (Christmas and MLK) and before Saturday night showcase games on ABC throughout the season. In addition, no NBA Cup games will be played as the second game of a back-to-back.

A group of 11 teams have the most back-to-back games scheduled at 16 occurrences. This group includes the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, LA Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and Washington Wizards.

A group of six teams have the fewest back-to-back games scheduled at 13 occurrences. This group includes the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic and Portland Trail Blazers.

There are no instances of four-in-five games. The NBA has worked to eliminate those situations over the years.