The investigation, which centers on suspicious betting activity around a January 2024 game, has stalled contract talks with Detroit and comes amid growing scrutiny of gambling-related issues across the league.
Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley is being investigated by US federal authorities over alleged illegal gambling activities for prop bets on NBA games.
The allegations stem from Beasley’s time on the Milwaukee Bucks, during the 2023/24 season, with one unnamed US sportsbook detecting unusual betting patterns and interest on Beasley’s statistics from a period in January 2024.
One game in question is the January 31 game last year between the Bucks and the Portland Trail Blazers. Beasley’s under odds for rebounds that game were listed at 2.5, with odds shifting significantly from +120 to -250.
ESPN reported this surge of bets placed on the under was deemed an unusual loss, as Beasley finished the game with six rebounds.
Beasley was in talks to sign a new three-year, $42m contract with the Pistons to return to the team next season. However, ESPN’s Shams Charania revealed negotiations have been put on hold as the NBA and the Pistons were notified of the investigation.
“We are cooperating with the federal prosecutors’ investigation,” said NBA spokesman Mike Bass.
“An investigation is not a charge,” added Steve Haney, Beasley’s lawyer. “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.”
ESPN reported Haney spoke to ABC News during a phone interview on June 29 to inform them he has spoken to US prosecutors at the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.
Beasley the latest NBA player in question
Beasley becomes the latest NBA player to have allegedly been involved in illegal betting in the last two years.
In January 2025, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was subject to a federal investigation over illegal betting pattern suspicions during a game from on March 23, 2023, involving Rozier’s time at the Charlotte Hornets against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Rozier is yet to be charged for being involved in any crime, nor has he been sanctioned by the NBA.
Perhaps the most high-profile illegal betting case in the NBA involved Jontay Porter, who was subsequently handed a lifetime ban in 2024 after pleading guilty for his involvement in an illegal gambling scheme during his time playing in the league for the Toronto Raptors.
With similar cases appearing throughout the league in recent years, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has taken a strict policy regarding any potential involvement of illegal gambling from its players, evident with the lifetime ban of Porter.
In April 2024 when Silver handed Porter the ban, he said: “There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our game rules are being met with the most severe punishment.”
