Rockets sign Michael Beasley as their basketball tragedy devolves into comedy

The Rockets are reportedly signing Michael Beasley. The same Michael Beasley who spent this season in China after multiple teams decided, after having him on their roster the past few years, they were better off.

Beasley is a stupidly talented player, and I say stupidly talented because there have been few instances in recent memory of such obvious physical and basketball gifts being squandered because of immaturity quite like Beasley's. He's played in three cities (Miami twice). The first time in Miami, he was caught smoking weed in the rookie symposium in 2008 before ever playing a game.

Then, after posting a photo on Twitter with baggies of weed in the background in 2009, he checked into rehab, still on the Heat. In Minnesota in 2011, he was pulled over with weed in his car, and denied it was his. In Phoenix, in 2013, he was arrested on suspicion of possession of weed.

He actually owns a championship ring by playing on LeBron's second championship team, but he played just 23 minutes in the entire postseason run. He is a knucklehead in the most rigid definition of the word.

And now, he is on the Rockets for the rest of the year. The Rockets, who just paid Ty Lawson millions of dollars to go away. The Rockets, who sit two games under .500 with about two dozen left in the season. The Rockets, who have struggled with chemistry and intensity all season long. This is the team bringing in Michael Beasley with their last roster spot.

This is what things have come to. This is what this season has become. What has been a macabre experience exploring the unpredictability of the athlete psyche has morphed into some twisted, dark comedy in which Beasley is the punchline. And Rockets fans are the butt of the joke.