Amidst all the more exciting and palatable news surrounding the advent of the NBA’s summer transaction bonanza came an unpleasant development for the Detroit Pistons that has abruptly altered their free agency plans.
In a bombshell piece of news first reported by ESPNâs Shams Charania, Pistons shooting guard Malik Beasley is said to be âunder investigationâ by the US District Attorneyâs office for alleged gambling related to NBA games and prop bets. Because of this, negotiations between him and the Pistons about an expected new contract have been put on indefinite hold.
Innocent Until Prove Guilty
As Beasley’s representative Steven Haney was quick to point out , an investigation is not even a charge, let alone a conviction. Beasley receives the presumption of innocence until there is any reason to do otherwise, and announcement of an investigation alone does not suffice. Investigations, quite often, go nowhere.
Optics, however, wait for neither charges nor convictions.
Just 24 hours before the free agency period opens, one of the most coveted shooters on the market – someone standing to benefit from the dearth of quality two guard options available today, coming off an impressive bounce-back individual season with a resurgent Pistons franchise that finally made it back to the playoffs – may have seen millions in future earnings written off by this announcement. The chances of any team feeling confident in talking to Beasley now, with a pending investigation looming over his head, seem very small.
This includes Detroit, where Beasley spent this past season. The Pistons were reportedly intending to bring back Beasley, with a follow-up by Charania describing him as being in line for a three-year, $42 million contract . Those discussions, though, are now on indefinite hiatus – if ever they are to restart at all.
Pistons Had Rebuilt Beasley’s Value
Last year, Beasley played all 82 regular season games for the Pistons, and had one of the best seasons of his career. He scored 16.3 points per game , mostly by virtue of being an unrepentant – and extremely good – three-point shooter.
Hitting slightly under four three-pointers a game, and doing so at a 41.6% conversion rate, Beasley hit 319 outside shots on the season. That total was the eighth-most of any player in any individual season in NBA history – with five of the seven ahead of him belonging to Stephen Curry – and Beasley did all this while starting only 18 games.
Hoping to rebuild his value on the market, Beasley had joined the Pistons on a one-year, $6 million contract , and had done exactly that with his excellent shooting display. That market is however now in the tank with news of the investigation, something that has become all too familiar in the NBA in recent seasons.
Since the effective legalization of sports betting across the United States via the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association  – which overturned the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, that had outlawed almost all its forms – the NBA has had to contend with a few scandals related to player gambling. Most notably of all, former Memphis Grizzlies big Jontay Porter was banned for life from the NBA in early 2024 for betting on NBA games, and for disclosing confidential information about his own health status to an individual he knew to be an NBA bettor.
Porter’s lifetime ban was a statement of intent by the NBA, who wished to establish a zero tolerance policy for violators. Only time will tell what if anything comes of the Beasley investigation. Hopefully, nothing. But until then, everyone involved waits awkwardly – including the Pistons.
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