Malik Beasley is no longer the target of a federal gambling investigation conducted in the eastern New York region, and his attorneys Steve Haney and Mike Schachter told ESPN Friday that it has the potential to reopen free agents for one of the NBA shooters.
Haney and Schachter told ESPN that they had extensive conversations and meetings with the Eastern New York region and were not considered targeted for Beasley after allegations of NBA games and prop betting in the 2023-24 season.
“Malik still hasn't been charged a few months after this investigation began, and it's not the target of this investigation,” Haney told ESPN. “The allegations of innocence, prosecution or conviction should never have catastrophic consequences. This is actually the opposite of the presumption of innocence.”
US spokesperson. The New York Eastern District lawyers' office declined to comment on the matter Friday.
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ESPN reported on June 29 that Beasley is under federal investigation, which led to all his free agent negotiations and stopped the offer the day before official free agents officially began. “We are working with the federal prosecutor's investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said at the time.
Sources said Beasley and the Detroit Pistons will complete a three-year, $42 million contract to bring the 28-year-old defender back, but the advice evaporated after the franchise realized the federal investigation and other interested teams also stopped talking with Beasley, the source said.
Sources said several teams have been in touch with Beasley's representatives over the past few weeks.
Beasley scored 16.3 points in all 82 games last season, his first season in nine years in the NBA. Beasley scored 319 3-pointers, the most in a season in the history of the Pistons and second in the NBA, behind Minnesota Timberwolves All-NBA star Anthony Edwards. According to Geniusiq, Beasley also ranked second, second in total score, three points on the bench and scored 248 catches, the most in any season since the 2013-14 Player Tracking.
Beasley signed a one-year contract with the Pistons in the 2024 offseason. According to ESPN's Bobby Marks, the biggest Beasley could resign with the Pistons for $7.2 million, thanks to Detroit signing Caris Levert's intermediate exception. Without Beasley, Detroit signed Levert, Duncan Robinson and Javonte Green to partner with the defender on the shore.
Teams that signed Beasley's contract with more than $7.2 million include the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings and Washington Wizards. The Brooklyn Nets' upper limit space is more than $20 million.
In the 2023-24 season at the Certificate Center, Beasley averaged 11.3 points in 79 games with the Milwaukee Bucks and scored a career-high 77 games.
A gambling industry source told ESPN's David Purdum that at least one famous American sports book detected an unusually heavy betting interest in Beasley's statistics. A source in the gambling industry noted that the Bucks and the Portland Trail Blazers will play on January 31, 2024. The chances of Beasley's recording rate of less than 2.5 rebounds were very much moved on the sports betting before the game, shortened by around +120 to around -250, and due to a surge in lower movements. Beasley scored six rebounds to finish, which was considered an unusual bet.
Last year, former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter was banned by the NBA because a league investigation found that Porter discovered that Porter disclosed confidential information to sports bettors and gambled during games. Earlier this year, Miami warm-up guard Terry Rozier was under federal investigation when he announced that he played for the Charlotte Hornets in a March 2023 game. Rozier has not been charged with any crime and has not been subject to any sanctions from the NBA, and his attorney Jim Trusty told Preum that his client was not the target of the investigation.
The National Basketball Players Association reiterated Friday that there is no evidence to gambling in leagues outside Porter.
“NBA players compete at the highest level with the greatest integrity and are concerned that prop bets have become an increasingly shocking source of player harassment online and in person,” an NBPA spokesman said. “If stricter regulations can help minimize this abuse, then we support a closer look at them.”
In 2020, Beasley pleaded guilty to felony charges for the threat of violence and was sentenced to 120 days in prison, serving after the 2020-21 season. He also had 12 games suspended by the NBA in 2021 due to his guilty plea.