Nets will replace Michael Beasley after he tested positive for COVID-19

Nets forward Michael Beasley will become the summer’s first substitute player who requires a substitute player of his own. The Athletic's Shams Charania reports (via Twitter) that Beasley won’t join the team after all.

Beasley signed with Brooklyn a week ago but tested positive for COVID-19 upon arriving to the Walt Disney World campus and didn’t clear quarantine. As a result, the Nets have decided to sign a substitute player to replace him. Although Charania doesn’t specify whom that player will be, he notes that Justin Anderson “remains a signing candidate.”

Anderson reportedly reached a deal back in June to sign with the Nets and said during an appearance on the JWILLY Show (YouTube link) on Monday that he was quarantining in an Orlando-area hotel in preparation.

It’s a tough break for Beasley, who had been out of the NBA since February 2019 and likely would have had a chance to earn some playing time this summer for the Nets, who are missing a total of seven players from their original squad.

Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Nicolas Claxton are sidelined with injuries; Wilson Chandler voluntarily opted out; and DeAndre Jordan, Spencer Dinwiddie and Taurean Prince have been ruled out following positive coronavirus tests. Beasley becomes the eighth Nets player who won’t participate in the restart.

Brooklyn has been able to sign substitute players to replace its non-injured players, bringing aboard Jamal Crawford, Lance Thomas and Donta Hall along with Beasley. The former No. 2 overall pick will now be replaced by a fifth substitute player, presumably Anderson.