Michael Beasley was re-signed by the Miami Heat with only 24 games left in the regular season, the third time the team has signed him to a contract.

Beasley, who ironically started his NBA career with the Heat, was someone that Heat president Pat Riley had hoped would fill up the slack vacated by an injured Chris Bosh and Josh McRoberts heading into the homestretch of the regular season.

Except perhaps for the last game of the Heat, Beasley hardly helped the cause of Miami. And as everyone knows, the Heat missed the NBA playoffs and Riley may be currently cooking up something to restore order and bring the team back to its old winning ways.

However, rumors suggest that those plans do not include Beasley who can be retained by the team. Beasley has a $1.2 million option which would depend on what Miami decides.

But for Beasley to remain, there are a lot of factors. One is the health status of Bosh and McRoberts and second is what Goran Dragic's plans are.

Dragic will be among the free agents in the offseason though he did mention he wanted to stay in South Beach. Now if that were the case, the Heat will have to move some players to make room for Dragic's salary. One of the casualties could be Beasley.

Beasley was the 2nd overall pick in 2008 by the Miami Heat. Aside from the Heat, he has had stints with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Phoenix Suns. After his second stint with the Heat, Beasley brought his act to the Chinese Basketball Association where he played for the Shanghai Sharks.

After his stint in the CBA, he did return once more to the Heat but his third stint didn't actually pan out.

Beasley is a good role player but the question now is whether he could be of help to the Heat's cause. From the looks of it, he may one of the players out of the squad though a fourth call from Riley to join the team (in the future) may not necessarily be surprising.