UVA Basketball: Reece Beekman is still trying to catch on in the NBA

A friend texted Thursday night to ask me since when was Reece Beekman a Washington Wizard, which got me to using the old Google machine to find out that Beekman, a third-year pro, is a Wizard in Summer League name only.

And to think, Beekman could have done another year with the UVA Basketball program, with the COVID redshirt, before going on to a career that has him bouncing around the Summer League and G League in search of a full-time gig.

Beekman, indeed, could have returned to college for the 2024-2025 season, because his first season was the 2020-2021 COVID season – you remember that one; Beekman hit a game-winning buzzer-beater in the first round of the ACC Tournament, but Virginia got bounced without losing a game because somebody tested positive for COVID, and the team had to quarantine, unable to practice in the run-up to the NCAA Tournament, ahead of a not shocking at all first-round loss to Ohio U.

The people advising Beekman on what to do gave him bad advice, and he declared for the 2024 NBA Draft.

His name didn’t get called, and things have gone downhill from there.

Guys who are first-rounders, in addition to signing guaranteed contracts worth millions, get every opportunity in the world to catch on, because teams don’t want to have wasted a first-round pick.

Second-rounders don’t get guaranteed contracts, but they at least get some rope, though not much – see Guy, Kyle.

Undrafted free agents are treated as cannon fodder – you’re there for Summer League to play catch with the first-rounders, and the G League exists as a Hunger Games for guys fighting for a spot on the end of an NBA bench.

Beekman has averaged 10.0 points and 6.2 assists per game in parts of two G League seasons – decent numbers.

He played in 36 games with the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets in the 2024-2025 season, averaging 2.7 points and 1.8 assists in 13.0 minutes per game, with three notable individual performances late in that season, with Brooklyn – 14 points (6-of-13 FG) and five assists in 35 minutes a 120-109 loss to Toronto on April 6, zero points (0-of-3 FG) and 10 assists in 31 minutes in a 119-114 win over New Orleans on April 8, and 11 points (4-of-7 FG) and three assists in 32 minutes in a 117-91 loss to Minnesota on April 11.

Beekman made $578,000 in his rookie pro season, the standard for a guy on a two-way, NBA/G League deal.

I think it’s a safe bet that he would have made more in a fifth season at Virginia – almost certainly multiples.

And maybe, in the process, he plays himself into being a 2025 draft pick, which gets you into the realm of being at least a two-way contract guy, and if you sneak into the first round, a guaranteed NBA job.

As it turns out, Beekman played the 2025-2026 season on a standard G League deal, which pays a base salary at $45,000.

And now he’s in the Summer League, and coming off the bench in the Summer League at that.