Malik Beasley might have gotten screwed out of tens of millions of dollars because of false gambling allegations.
In late June, the ex-Detroit Pistons guard was the subject of a federal gambling investigation. ESPN’s Shams Charania broke the news right before free agency, causing clips on social media to go viral showing Beasley giving lackadaisical effort on certain plays and extra effort at the end of games where the spread was right at the number.
There’s no doubt it looked suspicious to the naked eye. But as it turns out, the government found nothing to back up the allegations.
On Jan. 31, unusual betting activity poured in on Beasley to record under 2.5 rebounds in Detroit’s matchup against the Dallas Mavericks. It’s a strange bet to see heavy action on, but Beasley finished the game with six rebounds. Everybody who hammered that bet lost. So the red flags that were raised seemed unwarranted.
This information was not initially reported. The feds were investigating a situation surrounding a player prop where Beasley hit the over — the opposite of what you’d do if you were betting on yourself to manipulate an outcome.
The problem is, Beasley is fresh off the best season of his career. He played all 82 games for the Pistons on a one-year prove-it deal, averaging 16 points per game and helping Detroit win its first NBA playoff game since 2008.
But this report going public hours before free agency caused the Pistons to pull a three-year, $42 million extension. Detroit used that money on Caris LeVert, Duncan Robinson and Javonte Green.
Other suitors, such as the New York Knicks, have emerged now that Beasley has been cleared. Still, it seems unlikely his contract will match the money he was set to make before the allegations surfaced. The Brooklyn Nets are the only team in the NBA with enough cap space to match that initial offer, but they may not even pursue him as they’re in the middle of a rebuild.
“An allegation with no charge, indictment or conviction should never have the catastrophic consequence this has caused Malik,” Beasley’s lawyer Steve Haney said. “This has literally been the opposite of the presumption of innocence.”
It’s hard to disagree. Beasley was hours away from signing a contract that would have guaranteed him generational wealth. Instead, a story with no detail went public, causing teams to understandably back away from a player with serious allegations hanging over him.
Now that he’s been cleared of wrongdoing, those initial offers are gone — and Beasley is left holding the bag. Except it’s empty.
