Latest news with #SteveHaney
New York Times
06-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
The latest on Malik Beasley's legal trouble
A deal involving seven teams highlights the weekend. Meanwhile, Houston is parting ways with one of its young assets. Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images Jason Miller / Getty Images By Mike Vorkunov, Jon Krawczynski and James L. Edwards III Lawsuits and liens have trailed free agent guard Malik Beasley since he entered the league in 2016, and he has drawn concerns from at least one team about his off-court life. Now, he faces even more scrutiny. Beasley, 28, is a person of interest in a gambling investigation out of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, his attorney, Steve Haney, confirmed to The Athletic over the weekend. No charges or formal allegations have been filed against him. 'This is simply an investigation,' Haney said. 'At this point, Malik has not been charged with any crime and there has been no formal accusation of wrongdoing. Hopefully, everyone will afford him that same presumption of innocence that everyone else deserves.' The investigation into Beasley came at what should have been a moment of triumph for him. After playing for five teams over his last four seasons, he was set to cash in this month following a strong campaign with the Detroit Pistons, where he averaged 16.3 points per game and made a career-high 41.6 percent of his 3s. The Pistons had been in talks with Beasley and his agent leading up to June 30's official start of free agency, and were prepared to offer him a three-year, $42 million contract that included a team option for the last year, according to two sources briefed on the negotiations. But the NBA reached out to the club several days before free agency began and let it know about the federal investigation involving Beasley. The Pistons quickly pivoted away and are now unlikely to sign him. The league has not said whether it has also investigated Beasley. The NBA has previously said it is cooperating with the federal investigation. The contract would have been a windfall, although Beasley has already made nearly $60 million over his nine seasons in the NBA, including $6 million with Detroit this past season. But he has a line of creditors who have taken to courts to try to recoup the money they believe they were owed. He has been sued at least five times over the last eight years, according to available public records, and has more than a dozen different liens filed against him. Read more here. GO FURTHER Malik Beasley facing complaint from former agency amid gambling investigation Maddie Malhotra / Getty Images The Boston Celtics front office isn't done making moves. How can we be so sure? By all indications, Brad Stevens will at least get his team under the second apron — and as of late Wednesday night, the team was still above it by about $332,000. It wouldn't take much maneuvering to dip under that threshold, but it would take more work if Stevens is motivated by the prospect of escaping the luxury tax. With Jayson Tatum injured, it could be smart for the Celtics to get out of the luxury tax now and begin the process of resetting the repeater tax. They would need to stay out of the luxury tax for two straight seasons to do so. Whatever comes next, the Celtics' supporting cast already has been crushed this offseason. Over the last two weeks, they have said goodbye to three rotation players from last season and could soon lose a fourth in free agent Al Horford. That total doesn't include Tatum, who is set to miss much of next season with an Achilles injury. The Boston front office hasn't done much to replace the departed players. Free-agent signings Josh Minott and Luka Garza were end-of-bench players for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang, acquired via trades, could be flipped again to help Boston shed more salary. While prioritizing their salary-cap situation this summer, the Celtics have allowed their talent level to shrivel up. Who's left on the roster? Read more here. GO FURTHER Celtics depth chart: More changes coming, but where does the roster stand? Trevor Ruszkowski / Imagn I've mentioned this before, but the Pacers painted themselves into a corner once they extended Andrew Nembhard last summer. By taking Nembhard's salary from $2 million to $18 million for 2025-26, Indiana put itself in a position where paying Myles Turner any kind of market rate would certainly put it into the luxury tax. (That extension, by the way, paid Nembhard two years and $56 million in new money; he's a good player, but this was roughly double what Nickeil Alexander-Walker got in free agency … for a guy they already had under contract.) Setting things up to be a tax team works better if your team is owned by Steve Ballmer as opposed to Herb Simon. We'll never know if the Pacers would have shelled out if Tyrese Haliburton hadn't been injured, but they've also never paid a cent of luxury tax in their history. The smart money was on that streak continuing. The Pacers, however, still have outs to survive this, particularly in the trade market. The first step is to turn Turner's departure into a sign-and-trade with Milwaukee, thereby generating a $24.5 million trade exception that they can use until next July. It likely will cost them a second-round pick, but it's worth it. Indiana also reacquired its 2026 first-round pick from the Pelicans just before the Haliburton injury, greatly lessening the worst-case scenarios for this coming season. That reacquisition also makes possible my favorite fake trade: Indiana sending a lightly protected 2027 first to Dallas for Daniel Gafford. He would need to fit into a trade exception created by a Turner sign-and-trade, but Gafford is a starting-caliber center who's tough and runs all day, plus he's signed for four years, and his money won't put Indiana into the tax. The Raptors have officially signed Sandro Mamukelashvili to a 2-year contract. A one-year deal with Orlando for Moe Wagner gives him a de facto no trade clause while he rehabs from a torn ACL. Wagner will have full Bird rights next summer to re-sign with the Magic, who also employ his younger brother (and roomate!), Franz. There is no denying the price the Bucks have paid to get Myles Turner to Milwaukee, a price that will show up on their salary cap sheet for the next five seasons. But as far as Turner's game is concerned, that should be a nearly perfect fit. Not only does Turner have the skills that made Brook Lopez indispensable for seven seasons, but also Turner is younger and more athletic. He might not be the lead ballhandler (Milwaukee will need to continue to search for help in that department) the Bucks lost when Damian Lillard tore his left Achilles tendon in Game 4 of Milwaukee's first-round loss to the Pacers, but if deployed correctly, Turner will be able to do all the things — plus a few more — that made Lopez one of the team's most important players. And that could allow the Bucks to evolve moving forward. Read my detailed breakdown of the Bucks' new signing. GO FURTHER What does Myles Turner bring to the Bucks? Breaking down the fit on both ends of the floor Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images The Washington Wizards entered the mix in the last 24 hours, and the idea of Jonathan Kuminga as a possible fit in Washington's rebuild has gained real momentum, according to league sources. The Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets have also registered varying levels of interest in Kuminga, league sources said. This is a difficult market for restricted free agents. Kuminga isn't alone. The Josh Giddey, Quentin Grimes and Cam Thomas situations also remain without resolution as free agency nears its fifth day. Kuminga and his agent, Aaron Turner, are in search of a situation where Kuminga will be a featured part of the core with the belief of the franchise and coaching staff behind him. That isn't something Kuminga has consistently felt in his four years with the Warriors and — holding a degree of agency for the first time in his professional career — he's in patient pursuit of a situation that matches his ambitions. That could mean the process drags deeper into July. Mike Brown verbally agreed to his head coaching contract with the Knicks last night and is expected to sign it early next week, a league source told The Athletic . Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images There's been increasing movement and conversation regarding Jonathan Kuminga, one of the most intriguing names remaining on the market. The Golden State Warriors, according to league sources, have been searching for a promising young player plus a first-round pick in return for Kuminga, should they ultimately choose to part with him in a sign-and-trade scenario. They extended the $7.9 million qualifying offer to the 22-year-old wing and maintain the ability to match any contract he signs. That gives them a level of leverage in a market devoid of significant cap space. They've drawn inbound calls in recent days, most notably from the Sacramento Kings, who floated an offer of Devin Carter, Dario Šarić and two second-round picks, league sources said. The Warriors have so far balked at what they felt was a buy-low attempt, league sources said. Read on for the latest Kuminga intel. GO FURTHER The latest on Jonathan Kuminga, the Warriors and his restricted free agency Moe Wagner has agreed to a one-year, $5 million deal to return to the Orlando Magic, a league source confirmed to The Athletic . Wagner, who was on track to be an NBA Sixth Man of the Year candidate before he suffered a season-ending ACL tear in December, will rejoin the team's big-man rotation of Wendell Carter Jr., Goga Bitadze and Jonathan Isaac when Wagner returns from his ACL rehab, which seems likely to occur sometime after the start of the regular season.I don't know how on earth the 76ers got Jabari Walker on a 2-way contract, but he is absolutely an NBA player and I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up in the Sixers' rotation. The fourth-year forward was a victim of a numbers game in the Blazers' frontcourt. But he rebounds, has some stretch capability and is still only 22 years old. My BORD$ formula had a value of $7.3 million on Walker. Meg Oliphant / Getty Images Jaxson Hayes has agreed to a one-year deal to return to the Lakers, a league source confirms to The Athletic. During a 16-game stretch around the time of the Luka Dončić-Anthony Davis deal, Hayes was terrific. The Lakers went 14-2 and he averaged 8.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Hayes struggled after a knee injury and, obviously, the playoffs were the playoffs. But with him and Deandre Ayton, the Lakers have two lob threats at center. The Lakers, as is, also believe in Maxi Kleber's value as a stretch big. He's recovering well from foot surgery last January and could give them another dimension in their center rotation. The Pelicans waiving guard Antonio Reeves only makes sense if they are stretching his money to add a player who makes roughly $5 million, with either their biannual exception or the rest of their nontaxpayer midlevel exception, and want to do it while staying below the luxury tax. Reeves was guaranteed $1.955 million for this coming season, and New Orleans would be just more than $5 million below the tax if his money were stretched. If so, waiving a second-year player who shot 39.5 percent from 3 as a rookie would be a continuation of the string of bizarre moves emanating from the Pelicans of late. Reeves instantly becomes a priority two-way target, if not a roster add for the minimum, especially for younger teams trying to build. Our Doug Haller reported last month that the Suns were expected to try to part ways with Bradley Beal, and now an Arizona Republic report says that a buyout is being discussed. Phoenix buying out would save at least $34 million from its cap number for the coming season and make it possible for the Suns to escape the luxury tax entirely, although the Suns might clear it by mere pennies. Beal must give back at least $13.8 million for the Suns to legally stretch him, as our Fred Katz reported recently, and if that were to happen, the Suns would have a cap charge of $19.4 million over the next five years — a far cry from his $53.7 million salary in 2025-26. GO FURTHER How Jalen Green and Devin Booker can co-exist in a Suns backcourt My colleague Sam Amick has confirmed via a league source reports that center Jonas Valančiūnas, whom the Sacramento Kings agreed to trade to the Denver Nuggets at the start of free agency, is considering a move to the EuroLeague and an offer to play for Greek club Panathinaikos Athens. Valančiūnas has two years and a little more than $20 million left on his deal. If the agreed-upon trade goes through (Sam says it's still on, per a league source), Denver would have to waive or buy Valančiūnas out of his $10.4 million for 2025-26 for him to exit. I'm sure the Kroenkes are salivating over saving that cash, but the only plausible big-man replacement move would be signing Al Horford. Nobody else is left on the market, and the Nuggets have nothing to put into a trade. GO FURTHER Winners (Hawks), losers (July) and more from NBA free agency's first days No surprise on Houston waiving Jock Landale. In the absence of another trade, Houston needs to waive both his non-guaranteed deal and that of Nate Williams to get below the first apron, where the Rockets are currently hard-capped as a result of using their nontaxpayer midlevel exception on Dorian Finney-Smith. Williams has no trigger date on his guarantee, and the Rockets can keep him and stay under the apron if they move the contract of Cam Whitmore. If need be, Houston can also drag its feet on officially re-signing one of Jeff Green or Jae'Sean Tate while it figures out the resolution of that last roster spot. Steph Chambers / Getty Images For Deandre Ayton, who turns 27 at the end of July, the opportunity to re-establish himself couldn't be more clear. While his contract with the Lakers has a second-year player option, no one involved wants him to exercise it — the hope being that he far outplays that $8 million valuation and commands way more next summer. Team sources believe the Lakers have the right coaching staff to make that happen. In JJ Redick, they have a deadly serious head coach who also understands how to relate to players. Assistant Scott Brooks worked with Ayton in Portland two years ago, and Nate McMillan has either played or coached with or against virtually every personality type the NBA's ever concocted. And if not, the Lakers have maintained their flexibility for next summer and beyond. The Lakers weren't going to do better this summer than Deandre Ayton, not with what was on the market, not with the little they had to offer. If you polled 29 other general managers about whether they'd rather trade a first-round pick for Nic Claxton or if they'd rather pay Ayton $8 million, we can be pretty confident in the answer. And if there was hesitation, it wouldn't be because of the stuff on the court. It would be concerns about the culture, the fit, the commitment, the understanding about the required sacrifices that need to be made in order to win at the highest level. Read more of my column on the Ayton signing here. GO FURTHER Deandre Ayton fits with LeBron, Luka and the Lakers on the court. Will that be enough? Michael Reaves / Getty Images While things are slow ... I don't think the Knicks' tax apron situation has received enough attention. By adding Guershon Yaubsele via the taxpayer midlevel exception, the Knicks will trigger the second apron. It is going to take some serious limbo to stay beneath it. After agreeing to a minimum deal with Jordan Clarkson, New York has two open roster spots left. At the moment, they cannot sign a veteran to either one. The only players they could fit into those spots are ones they drafted — 2024 second-round Kevin McCullar (for $2,048,914) into one spot, and either 2025 second-rounder Mohamed Diawara, 2023 second-rounder James Nnaji or 2021 second-rounder Rokas Jokubaitis (for $1,272,870) into the other. Any other combination of salaries signed this summer would put the Knicks over the second apron. There are two possibilities to get around this. The most likely one is that Yabusele takes slightly less than the full nontaxpayer midlevel exception. If he takes just $36,641 below that number, the Knicks can put a veteran into McCullar's spot and fill the other with any of the second-rounders besides McCullar. The second possibility is that the Knicks sign non-McCullar second-rounders into both spots, but waive Ariel Hukporti's non-guaranteed deal and put a veteran into his place instead. In the meantime, one can see why New York picked up Hukporti's team option. Right now the difference between his $1.955 million salary and the $2.3 million veteran minimum is the glue holding New York's entire salary cap Jenga structure together. Page 2
New York Times
03-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Malik Beasley facing complaint from former agency amid gambling investigation
By Mike Vorkunov, Jon Krawczynski and James Edwards III On the day Malik Beasley helped the Detroit Pistons shock the New York Knicks to win Game 2 of their first-round series, he also learned about the latest legal issue in his life. A process server found him at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Manhattan and hand-delivered a lawsuit from his former agency, Hazan Sports, which claimed Beasley had breached a marketing deal with the company and fired it as his representation two months earlier. Hazan Sports had sued him for more than $2.5 million in response. Advertisement Lawsuits and liens have trailed Beasley since he entered the league in 2016, and he has drawn concerns from at least one team about his off-court life. Now, he faces even more scrutiny. Beasley is a person of interest in a gambling investigation out of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, his attorney, Steve Haney, confirmed to The Athletic over the weekend. No charges or formal allegations have been filed against him. 'This is simply an investigation,' Haney said. 'At this point, Malik has not been charged with any crime and there has been no formal accusation of wrongdoing. Hopefully, everyone will afford him that same presumption of innocence that everyone else deserves.' The investigation into Beasley came at what should have been a moment of triumph for him. After playing for five teams over his last four seasons, he was set to cash in this month following a strong campaign with the Detroit Pistons, where he averaged 16.3 points per game and made a career-high 41.6 percent of his 3s. The Pistons had been in talks with Beasley and his agent leading up to June 30's official start of free agency, and were prepared to offer him a three-year, $42 million contract that included a team option for the last year, according to two sources briefed on the negotiations. But the NBA reached out to the club several days before free agency began and let it know about the federal investigation involving Beasley. The Pistons quickly pivoted away and are now unlikely to sign him. A league spokesman did not respond to a question about whether the NBA had also investigated Beasley. The NBA has previously said it is cooperating with the federal investigation. The contract would have been a windfall, although Beasley has already made nearly $60 million over his nine seasons in the NBA, including $6 million with Detroit this past season. But he has a line of creditors who have taken to courts to try to recoup the money they believe they were owed. He has been sued at least five times over the last eight years, according to available public records, and has more than a dozen different liens filed against him. The Detroit News previously reported on some of the lawsuits and liens. Advertisement Hazan Sports sued him to recover the $625,000 it said it paid him in November 2023, when Beasley signed on as a client. In 2018, he was sued for $1,990 in past due rent. In 2021, he was sued for $2,000 for not paying homeowners association fees for a home he owned in Georgia. Beasley was sued last September in Milwaukee civil court by a dental company for $34,389.70 and for $26,826.76 by a barber. He played the 2023-24 season for the Milwaukee Bucks. Both cases appear to have been resolved after a default judgement against him in January, according to court records, with Beasley paying both in full. Those lawsuits were just some of the off-court issues Beasley faced even before he arrived in Minnesota. In September 2020, before his first training camp with the Timberwolves following being traded by the Denver Nuggets, Beasley was arrested in suburban Minneapolis after pointing a gun at a family that parked their car outside his house while on a tour of homes in the neighborhood. When police arrived to arrest him, they found marijuana in his home. Beasley was charged with marijuana possession and making threats of violence. Despite the serious, unresolved legal issues, Beasley signed a four-year, $60 million contract extension with the Wolves in November 2020. There were concerns inside the organization, a source who worked for the team at the time told The Athletic, about what that kind of wealth would mean for a player who, they believed, had a volatile life off the court. Gersson Rosas, the then president of basketball operations, felt that the Wolves could provide Beasley with the support and stability to help him work through his issues, team sources said. Beasley had a 1-year-old son at the time, and there were hopes that Beasley would mature with the show of faith from the organization. Advertisement 'We want to understand what's going on, and we want Malik to be not only the best player but the best person he can be,' Rosas said at the time. 'And we're all working through this together.' Beasley eventually pleaded guilty to threats of violence. The drug charges were dropped and he had to spend much of the summer of 2021 in the Hennepin County Workhouse as punishment. He was traded to Utah the next summer as part of a deal for Rudy Gobert, but the Wolves also continued to have reservations about trusting him to keep his life off the court on the straight and narrow, a team source said. The pattern of legal concerns for Beasley, both significant and small, unfortunately continued. When he signed a contract with Aliya Capital Partners to borrow money from its sports finance fund in August 2024, he pledged his current and future NBA contracts, as well as the money he would make as part of the NBA and NBPA's group licensing deal with NBA2K, among his pieces of collateral, according to a financing statement form filed in Florida. That was not the first time Beasley seems to have put himself in debt. According to a filing with the California Secretary of State, a June 2023 financing agreement with the Aliya Sports Finance Fund gave the company a 'second position lien on all of Debtor's future interest in the National Basketball Association or any other professional basketball league, Uniform Player Contract between Malik Beasley and Minnesota Timberwolves Basketball Limited Partnership or any other club following the current contract signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves Basketball Limited Partnership on November 25th, 2020.' In 2021, Beasley had taken on a $4.53 million loan with South River Capital that charged him 12 percent interest per year on the amount and a 10 percent late charge on the amount due if he did not pay on time, according to a copy of the promissory note obtained by The Athletic. Eleven months later, South River Capital filed a lawsuit in a Baltimore County court to recoup the money and asked for another $1.3 million in attorney's fees, late fees and interest payments. The court ruled Beasley owed South River Capital that amount. The company then sued him in a Minnesota county court, while he was still with the Minnesota Timberwolves, to try to retrieve its payment. Beasley, according to a court filing, paid $1.13 million of it in next year, the prior judgement was vacated following a request by South River Capital 'per agreement of the parties.' Advertisement Aliya Capital Partners and South River Capital did not respond to emails for this story. Beasley is currently being sued for $7,355 by the owners of an apartment building in downtown Detroit. The suit was filed last month after a previous lawsuit for $14,150 was dropped in March. It is set for a hearing later this month. Hazan Sports' lawsuit against Beasley is also now in flux. A lawyer for the agency told a federal judge last month that he was holding off on filing for default judgment because the agents and Beasley were now in negotiations, but needed to get through the NBA's offseason. 'The timing of when a settlement can be executed amongst the parties is predicated upon the defendant's financial liquidity,' the lawyer wrote in a letter to the judge. 'Which is directly related to the commencement of the National Basketball Association's free agency period which does not begin until July 6th.'
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ex-Lakers player Malik Beasley under investigation for gambling allegations, reports say
Free agent guard Malik Beasley, who played last season for the Detroit Pistons, is reportedly under federal investigation relating to gambling allegations in conection to league games. (Eric Gay / Associated Press) Veteran NBA player Malik Beasley is under federal investigation relating to gambling allegations in connection to league games, according to multiple media reports. According to ESPN, which was first to report the investigation, the allegations are from the 2023-24 season when Beasley played for the Milwaukee Bucks. ESPN cited a gambling industry source who said that at least one prominent U.S. sportsbook noticed unusually heavy betting interest on Beasley's statistics starting around January 2024. Advertisement 'There have been no charges against Malik,' Beasley's attorney, Steve Haney, told the Associated Press. 'It's just an investigation at this point. We hope people reserve judgment until he's charged — or if he's charged. It's not uncommon for there to be a federal investigation.' Haney told ABC News that he understands that the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York is leading the investigation. A spokesperson for that office declined to comment for this story. Read more: LeBron James exercises $52.6-million option and will be first to play 23 NBA seasons On Sunday, NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement that the league is 'cooperating with the federal prosecutors' investigation' into Beasley. Advertisement Beasley has played for six teams during his nine-year NBA career, including a stint with the Lakers during the 2022-23 season. He played for the Detroit Pistons last season, averaging 16.3 points a game and setting a franchise record by making 319 three-point shots during the regular season. In April 2024, the NBA banned then-Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter after finding that he had violated numerous league rules in relation to sports betting, including limiting his participation in one or more games and disclosing confidential information to bettors. Porter eventually pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and has yet to be sentenced. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
CNN
30-06-2025
- Sport
- CNN
NBA free agent Malik Beasley under investigation regarding gambling allegations, AP source says
NBA free agent Malik Beasley is under investigation by the U.S. District Attorney's office regarding gambling allegations tied to league games, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Sunday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the matter. 'We are cooperating with the federal prosecutors' investigation,' NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement released to the AP and other outlets on Sunday. ESPN was the first to report on the investigation. 'There have been no charges against Malik,' Steve Haney, Beasley's attorney, told the AP. 'It's just an investigation at this point. We hope people reserve judgement until he's charged — or if he's charged. It's not uncommon for there to be a federal investigation.' The probe into Beasley comes 14 months after the NBA banned Toronto's Jontay Porter, who was linked to a prop bet investigation and eventually pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud. This past season, The Wall Street Journal was first to report that Terry Rozier — then of the Charlotte Hornets — was under investigation for activity related to unusual betting patterns surrounding him in a March 2023 game. Rozier, now of the Miami Heat, has not been charged with any crime, nor has he faced any sanction from the NBA. Porter's ban came after a similar investigation into his performance and 'prop bets' — wagers where bettors can choose whether a player will reach a certain statistical standard or not during a game. The Porter investigation started once the league learned from 'licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets' about unusual gambling patterns surrounding Porter's performance in a game on March 20, 2024, against Sacramento. The league determined that Porter gave a bettor information about his own health status prior that game and said that another individual — known to be an NBA bettor — placed an $80,000 bet that Porter would not hit the numbers set for him in parlays through an online sports book. That bet would have won $1.1 million. Beasley signed last year with the Pistons, taking a one-year contract for $6 million in the hopes of cashing in this summer as a free agent. A second person, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity because no deal was announced, said Detroit was 'very interested' in re-signing Beasley to a multi-year contract this summer. Those talks might be in jeopardy, given the uncertainty regarding the federal probe. He made a single-season, franchise-record 319 3-pointers in the regular season. He helped Detroit make the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and end an NBA-record 15-game postseason losing streak in the first round against the New York Knicks. Beasley averaged 16.3 points last season and has averaged 11.7 points over his career with Denver, Minnesota, Utah, the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee and Detroit. He scored a career-high 19.6 points a game during the 2020-21 season with the Timberwolves. The Atlanta native played at Florida State and the Nuggets drafted him No. 19 overall in 2016.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Detroit Pistons' Malik Beasley Reportedly Subject of Federal Gambling Investigation
Detroit Pistons star Malik Beasley is reportedly the subject of a new gambling investigation regarding NBA game bets. News broke on Sunday, June 29, that the U.S. district attorney's office was looking into Beasley, 28, on allegations of gambling. ESPN, who broke the news, reported that prominent betting sites detected unusually heavy interest in Beasley's statistics in 2024. Advertisement Beasley's lawyer swiftly addressed the accusations, asserting that the guard has not yet been charged with a crime. 'An investigation is not a charge,' Beasley's attorney, Steve Haney, told ESPN in a statement. 'Malik is afforded the same right of the presumption of innocence as anyone else under the U.S. Constitution. As of now, he has not been charged with anything.' Detroit Pistons Star Malik Beasley's Wife Montana Yao Files for Separation Before 5th Anniversary Us Weekly has reached out for comment. Beasley, who previously played basketball with the Milwaukee Bucks, signed with the Pistons in June 2024. Both the Pistons and the NBA as a whole have pledged to cooperate with the investigation. Advertisement 'We are cooperating with the federal prosecutors' investigation,' NBA spokesperson Mike Bass told NBC Sports in a statement. Beasley was previously arrested in 2020 for a felony weapons charge. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 120 days in jail with a three-year probation. The pro athlete served his sentence after the 2020-2021 NBA season, later receiving a 12-game suspension from the league. That same year, Beasley's then-wife, Montana Yao, filed for divorce after he was rumored to be dating Real Housewives of Miami star Larsa Pippen. (Beasley and Yao, now 27, share son Makai, who was born in 2019.) Nia Long's Ex Ime Udoka Gets New Basketball Coaching Job With Houston Rockets After Cheating Scandal Advertisement 'I wanna say sorry for putting you in the situation you were put in the last few months. my head wasn't were it was supposed to be,' Beasley wrote in a May 2021 statement, apologizing to Yao. 'I was looking for more when it was right here that whole time. I'm telling the world and you that there's nobody like you for me.' He added, 'For the record, I was the one who ended my last relationship off the fact that there is no one like you. Also, for the record, I wanted to do my own 'cuz I just left u guys and I def ain't the type to set up pictures at the mall … that's some childish ish and I'm trying to grow individually and grow a family. I ain't looking to be judged. I'm looking for forgiveness. To forgive me for hurting my family the way I did.' Yao later withdrew her petition, only to file again in March of this year.
