One of the bigger storylines of this NBA offseason has been the federal probe into Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley, who saw his free agency sweepstakes halted before it even began when he was announced as the main subject of a gambling investigation. Beasley has since been cleared as the main target of the investigation and has generated plenty of interest from teams in need of outside shooting, but that doesn't mean he is fully out of the woods just yet.
Recently, David Purdum of ESPN.com reported on how the NBA is still not through with their own look into Beasley.
“The NBA is conducting its own investigation into gambling allegations against Malik Beasley, the free-agent guard linked to a federal probe this offseason, the league confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday,” reported Purdum. “The investigation stems from allegations of improper gambling on NBA games and prop bets from the 2023-24 season when Beasley was with the Milwaukee Bucks, according to sources familiar with the matter.”
At this point, it's unclear what exactly the NBA is investigating that is different than what the feds already looked through during their own investigation.
A potentially big development
As previously mentioned, once Beasley's name was cleared by the federal investigation, teams once again began their pursuit of his services in free agency as the NBA season draws near.
Beasley himself even recently stated on his Instagram account that a decision was near.
However, this NBA investigation could throw a wrench in things if anything new is uncovered. The original probe stemmed from Beasley's time with the Bucks, specifically a January 2024 game between the Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers when there was a surge of bets on Beasley's rebounding statistics for that game shortly before tip-off.
For their part, the Detroit Pistons seem to have already begun preparing for life without their best three-point shooter by going out and signing both Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson in free agency this year.
In any case, the Pistons are set to kick off their 2025-26 NBA season with a road game against the Chicago Bulls on October 22.
