FORMER Denver Nuggets star and Detroit Pistons playoff performer Malik Beasley is being probed for allegedly betting on basketball.
The star is yet another name in the NBA and other professional sports to be investigated for gambling.
Malik Beasley is under investigation for allegedly betting on basketball[/caption]
Beasley is a journeyman player who found success with the Pistons this year[/caption]
Gambling is one of the biggest offenses in any professional sports league, and is banned by all of the major ones in the US.
However, that hasn’t stopped many athletes from attempting to skirt by watchful eyes.
This time, it is Beasley who has found himself under investigation for allegedly gambling on basketball.
It isn’t the NBA that is investigating Beasley though, rather the United States government.
Beasley is part of a Federal investigation on allegations of gambling on NBA games and prop bets.
The allegations come from the 2023-24 season, when he was a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.
He averaged 11.9 points per game that season and started 77 games.
According to ESPN, at least one major sportsbook flagged unusually heavy interest on Beasley’s stats beginning in January of 2024.
“An investigation is not a charge,” Steve Haney, Beasley’s attorney, told ESPN.
“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.”
Haney also told ABC News that he has been in touch with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.
Beasley is just 28 years old and was a member of a surging Detroit Pistons squad this season.
He was in talks to extend with them on a three-year, $42 million contract, but those talks have now been put on hold.
The Pistons are aware of Beasley’s investigation and are deferring it to the NBA.
The NBA released a short statement regarding the betting probe.
“We are cooperating with the federal prosecutors’ investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said.
Beasley averaged 16.9 points last season and appeared in all 82 games.
He set a new Pistons record with 319 three-pointers in a season.
