The federal reckoning over sports betting and the NBA widened this week, reaching two more former players.
The indictment
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York charged Beasley and Davis with sports bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, honest-services fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, CBS Sports reported. Several co-conspirators were also named. Beasley, 29, played for the Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons and, most recently, the Milwaukee Bucks; Davis, a former teammate, is alleged to have acted as an intermediary in the scheme.
What prosecutors allege
According to the indictment as described by reporters, Beasley tipped off associates before certain games during the 2023–24 season, signaling that he intended to over- or underperform in specific statistical categories — chiefly points and rebounds — that anchor player "prop" bets. That advance knowledge was allegedly relayed to a network of bettors who placed hundreds of thousands of dollars in wagers. Prosecutors say Davis offered to loan Beasley money to cover mounting gambling debts, which Beasley then allegedly repaid by manipulating his on-court production. Prosecutors identified several specific Bucks games from that season as central to the scheme.
Responses
Beasley's attorney, Steven Haney, asserted his client's innocence. "An indictment is nothing but a probable-cause, one-sided charging document," Haney said, adding that Beasley "maintains his presumption of innocence." Davis's representatives did not immediately comment, and neither the NBA nor the Bucks had issued a statement. An arraignment date in Brooklyn had not been announced. The charges are allegations; no verdict has been reached, and both men are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
A growing problem for the league
The case lands amid heightened federal scrutiny of player conduct as legal sports betting has spread across the country. Former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter pleaded guilty in 2025 to charges tied to a scheme in which bettors wagered on his prop statistics, and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier has pleaded not guilty to related federal charges. Law enforcement has described the pattern as a systemic threat to the integrity of professional sports: insiders with advance knowledge of performance intentions feeding that information to outside bettors, circumventing the safeguards legal sportsbooks rely on. How the Beasley and Davis case resolves will be watched closely by a league that has embraced betting partnerships even as the prosecutions multiply.
