Former NBA Star Michael Beasley Recalls How His Mom Hid Her Stage 4 Cancer

Former NBA player Michael Beasley is opening up about losing his mother to cancer while he was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers - and claimed she lied to him about the severity of her illness.

His mom, Fatima Smith, died in 2018, the same year Beasley, 37, signed with the Lakers for the final campaign of his NBA career. Before the season, he said, his brother went to visit her and discovered her condition was far worse than she let on.

"He showed me the side she wasn't showing us," he told host Shannon Sharpe on the Wednesday, April 22, episode of his "Club Shay Shay" podcast. "So we didn't know, but every day she would get up and make sure she took her morphine so she could have that phone call."

He added, "My mom was driving herself to chemo until they put her on hospice. She didn't deserve that s***. And I was mad at her at that time because of my childhood. My dad told me some s*** at 25, and I cut my whole family off for three years."

Beasley missed 13 games during the 2018-19 season to care for his ailing mother, returning to the Lakers in January 2019.

Less than two weeks later, he became an instant punch line around the league when he accidentally tried to check into a game while wearing his practice shorts. What he hadn't revealed at the time was that, while he was still mourning his mother's death, he had also just missed his cousin's funeral.

Beasley said he was conflicted about whether he should attend and miss yet another Lakers game before deciding to stay behind. Years later, he remains hurt by those in his circle who made fun of the moment, not knowing what he was dealing with.

"Magic Johnson and LeBron James, my favorite people. I couldn't even be happy around them, because they was laughing too," Beasley said. "But nah, Josh Hart, I love him. I was on the bus one day, and I didn't even know I was crying. I was just sitting there trying to be quiet. Josh Hart came up to me and gave me a hug, bro."

Beasley continued, "He said, ‘I don't know what you're going through, dog, but you can come talk to me.' And I never did, and I wish I did. But Josh Hart, he seen who I was, bro. I f*** with Josh, man."

That ended up being the worst statistical season of his career, and he later signed with the Chinese Basketball Association, where he played for three more seasons before retiring in 2022.

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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 1:42 PM.