Malik Beasley has been indicted by federal prosecutors in New York on sports gambling charges, with former NBA center Ed Davis also named in the case, according to reporting from The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov.
Beasley’s attorney, Steve Haney, said his client is facing sports betting, money laundering and wire fraud charges and that they “look forward to defending all charges.”
The indictment comes out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which alleges Beasley and Davis grew close when they were teammates on the 2020/21 Timberwolves and later worked together to manipulate Beasley’s play in four NBA games for betting purposes while Beasley was with the Bucks during the 2023/24 season.
Prosecutors say Beasley had millions in gambling losses and joined the scheme with Davis and three other people, including former NBA agent Paolo Zamorano, in an effort to cover that debt.
One alleged text message from Davis to Beasley, sent about a month before the first targeted game, read: “Only way you can beat Vegas is sports betting,” Davis allegedly told Beasley in a text message about a month before the first game in question, a Bucks/Cavaliers matchup on January 26, 2024. “Everything else they got the edge.”
The games identified by prosecutors were January 26 against the Cavaliers, February 27 against the Hornets, March 10 against the Clippers and March 21 against the Nets. In the Jan. 26 game, Beasley took just two shots and scored three points, and investigators say the group wagered thousands of dollars tied to that outing.
According to Vorkunov’s reporting, the group bet the “over” on Beasley’s rebounds at 3.5 for the Clippers game and celebrated when he got his fourth rebound in the final seconds. The plan allegedly backfired in the Nets game, when they bet the “under” on his rebounds and Beasley finished with six.
Beasley, a high-volume three-point threat, finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2024/25 and had been in line for a major multiyear deal with the Pistons before contract talks stopped once federal investigators and the NBA began looking into a possible link to illegal betting activity. He later signed with Cangrejeros de Santurce, the Puerto Rican team owned by Bad Bunny, while his NBA future remains unresolved.
The case adds Beasley and Davis to a list of former NBA players already indicted in the broader federal gambling probe, alongside Terry Rozier, Jontay Porter and Damon Jones. Porter was permanently banned from the NBA after a league investigation found he had shared confidential information with bettors. The other cases are still active.
NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said the league is reviewing the indictment and will continue to cooperate with authorities.
“We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictment unsealed today involving Malik Beasley and Ed Davis. Beasley last played in the NBA during the 2024/25 season and Davis last played in the league during the 2021/22 season.
We will continue to investigate this matter and cooperate with the relevant authorities. We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”