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NBA free agent Malik Beasley's reported financial woes were revealed amid a federal investigation into his alleged gambling.
Beasley, 28, who has an estimated $60 million in contract earnings during his nine-year NBA career, reportedly faces multiple debts and lawsuits, including being sued by his former marketing agency for failing to repay in full a $650,000 advance, according to the New York Post. The NBA veteran has also reportedly incurred debts to a celebrity barber, a dentist, a landlord and a lender, along with the previously reported marketing firm debt, according to the Detroit News.
“I have been with Malik for a long time, I have seen a lot of people around him come and go, but I have stayed away from any of his financial management or mismanagement or decisions he would make with money,” said Steve Haney, Beasley’s criminal defense lawyer, via the Detroit News. “I’m his lawyer. I don’t get involved in his finances.
“You hope to get them around the best business people and planners, and management people. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.”
Beasley is reported to have pledged his current and future NBA contract earnings to the lending company, South River Capital LLC, which won a $5.8 million judgement against him that was filed in 2022 during his tenure with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The guard's reasoning for borrowing the money wasn't cleared, however, court records indicated that he paid back $1.3 million in early 2023.
“It is very common for professional athletes to go to third-party lenders and get advances on contracts. It’s a part of the business of professional sports,” Haney said. “Many of these lenders are predatory and charge extremely high interest rates and outrageous fees that border on usury.”
ESPN's Shams Charania and David Purdum reported that Beasley was being investigated by the U.S. district attorney's office for gambling allegations related to NBA games and prop bets on Sunday (June 29).
The allegations reportedly stem from the 2023-24 NBA season, when Beasley averaged 11.3 points in 79 games and made a career-high 77 starts as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. At least one prominent U.S. sportsbook detected uncharacteristically high betting interest in props on Beasley's statistics starting around January 2024, a gambling industry source confirmed to Purdum on Sunday.
"An investigation is not a charge," said Steve Haney, an attorney representing Beasley, via 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."
Beasley, who spent the 2024-25 NBA season with the Detroit Pistons, was reportedly in talks with on a new three-year, $42 million contract to return to the franchise, however, the discussions have paused due to the investigation. The Pistons confirmed that they were aware of the investigation and deferred additional comment to the NBA in a statement to ESPN.
"We are cooperating with the federal prosecutors' investigation," NBA spokesman Mike Bass said to ESPN on Sunday.
Beasley is coming off a season in which he averaged 16.3 points while appearing in all 82 games. The veteran guard had previously pleaded guilty to a felony charge of threats of violence and was sentenced to 120 days in jail, which was served after the 2020-21 NBA season, and suspended 12 games during the 2021-22 season, during his tenure with the Timberwolves.
Former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter was banned by the NBA in 2024 after an investigation conducted by the league found that he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors and placed wagers on games.