A former NBA player has agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to a major sports betting scandal.
Meanwhile, fresh details have emerged surrounding the Milwaukee Bucks’ controversial $64 million deal with Gary Trent Jr., with one NBA executive reportedly raising serious concerns about just how significant the investigation could become.
All of this and more in the latest NBA Daily.
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EX-NBA PLAYER AGREES TO PLEAD GUILTY IN SPORTS BETTING CASE
Former NBA guard Malik Beasley has agreed to plead guilty in his federal sports betting case, according to ESPN.
The 29-year-old is set to change his plea in a Brooklyn federal court on December 9, having initially pleaded not guilty in July.
Beasley is accused of working with former NBA teammate Ed Davis to manipulate his performances during several games for the Milwaukee Bucks throughout the 2023-24 season.
According to federal prosecutors, Beasley allegedly shared information about how many points and rebounds he intended to record, with Davis then passing that information on to others who placed bets.
Prosecutors claim several of those bets were successful, with Beasley allegedly receiving financial benefits in return, including reductions to his gambling debts.
Former NBA guard Malik Beasley has agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to a sports betting scandal.Source: AFP
The investigation first became public on June 29, 2025, just as Beasley was preparing to enter free agency following an impressive season with the Detroit Pistons.
Detroit was reportedly considering offering the guard a multi-year deal worth more than $40 million, but Beasley remained unsigned after news of the investigation emerged.
It came after arguably the best season of his NBA career, with Beasley averaging 16.3 points per game while shooting 41.6 per cent from beyond the arc across all 82 regular-season games.
He also finished second in the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year voting.
Beasley has not returned to the NBA since, instead spending time playing in Puerto Rico with Cangrejeros de Santurce earlier this year, before being released following the team’s slow start to the season.
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His case adds to a growing list of gambling scandals involving NBA players and coaches in recent years, with Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups and Jontay Porter among the biggest names caught up in investigations.
Rozier was arrested and charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy in October 2025 over an alleged betting scheme involving his performances for the Charlotte Hornets.
Prosecutors allege Rozier informed an associate that he intended to leave a game early in March 2023, with that information then used to place bets on his individual statistics.
Former Portland Trail Blazers coach and NBA champion Chauncey Billups was arrested on the same day as Rozier, although his charges were linked to a separate investigation.
Malik Beasley is at the centre of a major NBA sports betting controversy.Source: AP
Billups was among 31 people charged over an alleged operation involving rigged high-stakes poker games, with prosecutors claiming participants were cheated out of millions of dollars.
Meanwhile, former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter was handed a lifetime ban from the NBA in April 2024 after a league investigation found he had breached its gambling rules.
The investigation found Porter had shared confidential information about his health with a known sports bettor and deliberately limited his playing time in at least one game to influence betting outcomes.
Porter later pleaded guilty to a federal fraud conspiracy charge in July 2024.
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INVESTIGATION INTO MILWAUKEE BUCKS GUARD HEATING UP
Gary Trent Jr. signed a new four-year, $64 million deal with the Milwaukee Bucks during the offseason.
The contract immediately raised eyebrows around the league, with the NBA launching an investigation into the Bucks over concerns the franchise may have breached the league’s salary cap rules.
Through Milwaukee’s opening four games of the season, Trent Jr. is yet to play a single minute, raising further questions about the lucrative deal.
Investigators are looking into whether Milwaukee had previously promised Trent a much bigger contract in exchange for accepting significantly less money during his first two seasons with the franchise.
The Milwaukee Bucks are under investigation over their $64 million deal with Gary Trent Jr.Source: AP
Speaking on ESPN’s The Hoop Collective podcast, NBA insider Brian Windhorst revealed that one league executive believes the potential breach could be even worse than the Los Angeles Clippers’ salary cap scandal, should the allegations be proven.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in that investigation,” Windhorst said.
“An executive said to me that they think, and I want to be clear, I want to be cautious, but an executive say to me if this is proven to be true, then this is actually more egregious than the Clippers’ deal.“
“I will tell you that it is a frequent conversation as I talk with people around the league.”
The Clippers were fined $30 million and stripped of five first-round draft picks following an NBA investigation into salary cap breaches involving superstar Kawhi Leonard.
Leonard was also fined $700,000, while Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was suspended from all team and league activities for one year.
TIMBERWOLVES SUPERSTAR ADDED TO GROWING NBA INJURY LIST
Another name has been added to the NBA’s growing list of injured stars, with Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards sidelined for up to two months.
Edwards needs an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee according to multiple reports and will aim to return in December at full health, should everything go to plan.
It is a huge blow for the Timberwolves, who looked every bit like one of the top Western Conference contenders after a busy offseason which saw them trade for LaMelo Ball.
Ball had embraced his role as the primary facilitator at Minnesota, combining well with Edwards who was providing his usual scoring punch and if anything was even more of a threat with a high-level point guard feeding him the ball.
Now it will be on Ball to step up and become the focal point of the offence, as was the case when he was at Charlotte, along with Jaden McDaniels.
Edwards is the latest high-profile NBA player to go down just a week into the new season, with fellow Western Conference contenders Oklahoma City losing Jalen Williams (leg) and Cason Wallace (shoulder) to serious injuries.
The Magic will be without Paolo Banchero (ankle) and Jalen Suggs (knee) for an extended period while Jaren Jackson Jr. (knee) is out for Utah, Jalen Duren (hamstring) is sidelined for Detroit and Kawhi Leonard (knee) is expected to be unavailable for a few weeks.