This story originally appeared in Mile High Sports Magazine. Read the full digital edition.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota: “The (self-appointed) Best Little City in America.”
Home to the 114th Fighter Wing and, for the better part of the past few months, Nuggets rookie guard Malik Beasley.
Beasley was known during his playing days at Florida State for high-flying dunks and long-distance 3-pointers. But with so much talent at the front end of Michael Malone’s bench, the Nuggets have struggled to find minutes for their 2016 second-round pick. In order to get him more playing time the Nuggets have Beasley doing a different kind of flying and long-distance travel.
From Dec. 9, 2016 through April 2, 2017, the Nuggets assigned and recalled Beasley to and from the Sioux Falls Skyforce five different times. That translates to a grand total of 5,030 miles traveled (as the crow flies) between two cities that both apply the nickname “Queen City of the West.”
With all those frequent flyer miles (and time spent at the luggage carousel) racking up, Beasley might be hankering for a vacation. The crack research staff at Mile High Sports has gone ahead and put together a few possible destinations Beasley could visit, all of which equal roughly the same amount of miles traveled he’s logged between Denver and Sioux Falls this year…
Where Malik Beasley Could Travel from Denver in 5,030 Miles
- Round-trip (x5) to Sioux Falls, South Dakota – 5,030 Miles
- One-way to Helsinki Finland – 4,988 Miles
- One-way to La Paz, Bolivia – 4,539 Miles
- Round-trip to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory – 3,872 Miles
- Round-trip to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala – 3,798 Miles
- Round-trip to Madawaska, Maine – 3,790 Miles
- One-way to Reykjavik, Iceland – 3,698 Miles
- Round-trip to Havana, Cuba – 3,498 Miles
- One-way to Honolulu, Hawaii – 3,344 Miles
Malik Beasley’s D-League Transactions
- Dec. 9, 2016 – Assigned to Sioux Falls Skyforce
- Dec. 17, 2016 – Recalled to Denver Nuggets
- Jan. 4, 2017 – Assigned to Sioux Falls Skyforce
- Jan. 8, 2017 – Recalled to Denver Nuggets
- Feb. 21, 2017 – Assigned to Sioux Falls Skyforce
- Feb. 26, 2017 – Recalled to Denver Nuggets
- Feb. 28, 2017 – Assigned to Sioux Falls Skyforce
- March 6, 2017 – Recalled to Denver Nuggets
- March 22, 2017 – Assigned to Sioux Falls Skyforce
- April 2, 2017 – Recalled to Denver Nuggets