The NBA’s Ongoing Gambling Crisis: Malik Beasley & Ed Davis Latest Indictments
Basketball is a unique game in that there are only five players on the court. If a player has the ball in their hands, they can impact the game in such a big way, for better or worse.
On Monday, June 29, 2026, former NBA players Malik Beasley and Ed Davis were indicted in the Eastern District of New York, along with four others, in an alleged sports-gambling scheme involving the manipulation of individual performances during the 2023-24 season.
Latest News on Malik Beasley & Ed Davis
This marks the latest black eye for the NBA, which has spanned several current and former players, as well as a coach, over the last few years.
What began as a one-off has now fused into a full-blown crisis for a league that just had one of its most important seasons in decades.
Federal prosecutors allege that Beasley, a nine-year NBA veteran, agreed to fix his individual performance. When Beasley was with the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2023-24 season, he would take it easy on the rebounding end and make sure to come in below his prop number.
The charges in this case include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bribery in sporting contests, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Beasley reportedly lost millions of dollars to gambling during his professional career, so he used fixing his prop totals to pay back a teammate who had loaned him the money.
Ed Davis's Role in the NBA Gambling Scandal
Davis was considered the “gatekeeper” who loaned Beasley the money and facilitated the entire scheme. The 12-year NBA veteran was the main middleman between Beasley and the four co-conspirators: Robert Gorodetsky, Ernesto Plascencia, William, and Paolo Zamorano, the latter of whom was Davis’s agent during his NBA playing days.
In advance, Beasley would inform Davis of specific games in which he could potentially make the fix appear to be a normal outcome. Davis would then pass along the “non-public information” to the group of co-conspirators so they could place the wagers on Beasley’s stats. This made Davis the crucial piece of the puzzle, allowing the scheme to work without Beasley having any contact with the group.
One of the key pieces of evidence was a text exchange from Davis to Beasley, stating “Only way you can beat Vegas is sports betting. We can make some good money.”
Which Games Did Beasley Fix with the Bucks?
The specific games included in the federal indictment were:
- January 26, 2024, against the Cleveland Cavaliers
- February 27, 2024, against the Charlotte Hornets
- March 10, 2024, against the Los Angeles Clippers
- March 21, 2024, against the Brooklyn Nets
In total, over $75,000 was wagered on these four games, resulting in a net win of $121,000.
The scheme collapsed in the March 21 (2024) game against the Nets. Beasley did not hold up his end of the bargain to go below his stat line, causing massive losses for the members of the co-conspirator group. Plascencia allegedly demanded that Davis either repay the losses or force Beasley to fix multiple future games.
Davis initially agreed to continue the scheme but backed out four days later after word of a similar investigation into a current (at the time) NBA player.
Related Articles
The Originator: Jontay Porter (2024)
Jontay Porter, a former forward/center for the Toronto Raptors, was banned from the NBA for life in 2024. The spotlight was first shone on Porter, who passed along confidential information, fixed his own player props during games, and became the first active player to be banned for gambling violations since 1954.
Which Games did Porter Fix with the Raptors?
The two games included in the federal indictment:
- January 26, 2024, against the Los Angeles Clippers
- March 20, 2024, against the Sacramento Kings
In these two particular games, Porter would play limited minutes before exiting the game (citing an illness or injury) for the unders to hit on his props.
Porter even wagered on NBA games that he didn’t play in, totaling over $22,000 in winnings.
Where is Jontay Porter Now?
In July 2024, Porter pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Like Beasley, Porter had debts that led to greed, with some of those ties going back to a member of the infamous Gambino crime family.
That case led the NBA to create the “Jontay Porter Rule,” which restricts prop bets on specific 10-day contract players and two-way players.
A $250,000 bond has kept Porter out of jail for now, and he is awaiting sentencing. Guilty parties in related cases project that he could spend anywhere from 41 to 51 months in prison.
The NBA’s Big Swoop of Guilty Gamblers: Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier & Damon Jones
On October 23, 2025, the FBI and its partners arrested 34 people in 11 U.S. states across two different investigations. One of the cases involved fixing high-stakes poker games linked to organized crime families. Still, the other was for illegal sports betting on NBA games using insider information.
This was the motherload of all cases, featuring notable names from the NBA's past and present, including Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, and Damon Jones.
Chauncey Billups
Billups had his hand in both of the investigations, although he was not directly named in the sports betting side (only as “Co-Conspirator 8”).
As “Co-Conspirator 8,” it is alleged that this person shared “non-public information” before an NBA game between the Chicago Bulls and Portland Trail Blazers, which Billups was coaching at the time. Billups also told one of the defendants that the Blazers were “tanking” games to improve their odds in the upcoming draft. In this particular game, Billups kept the news close to the vest that four of his players would not be playing that night, and the betting participants made off with over $100,000 in profits.
In addition, Billups was the high-profile draw that brought unsuspecting wealthy card players to Texas Hold ’em games in the Hamptons, Las Vegas, and Miami, all of which were fixed by the house. The allegations are that Billups organized or participated in rigged games, including at least one in Las Vegas that used a preset card shuffler and defrauded the victims of over $50,000.
Terry Rozier
Rozier was playing for the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets at the time of his arrest when the team was in Orlando, Florida, for a game against the Orlando Magic.
It is alleged that Rozier offered “non-public information” to co-conspirators, enabling them to profit from a profitable bet. Rozier tipped off childhood friend Deniro Laster that he would exit the March 23, 2023, game against the New Orleans Pelicans early with an “injury.” Laster would bet unders on specific Rozier prop bets, leading to over $200,000 in wagers and record profits.
There was a larger case to be made, as the federal investigation uncovered at least seven NBA games that had been fixed. Federal prosecutors even added charges of bribery in sporting contests and a conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. It is alleged that Rozier even accepted a $100,000 bribe to fix these particular games.
Damon Jones
Jones hadn’t played in the NBA since the 2008-09 season, but he did catch on in numerous coaching roles, including serving as LeBron James's personal shooting coach while James was with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Before the Lakers’ February 9, 2023, game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Jones allegedly texted a co-conspirator that a “prominent NBA player” (talking about LeBron) was going to be out. The Lakers lost the game, and the co-conspiratorswonn their bets. However, a similar instance arose in another Lakers game where James wasn’t playing, but it backfired when Anthony Davis went off for a huge night.
Jones was accused of conspiring to defraud major-operator sportsbooks by “concealing the use of non-public information.” Still, he was also one of the big names used to lure wealthy players to the Texas Hold’Em games, like Billups was.
Where Does the NBA Go from Here?
The NBA’s gambling concerns aren’t new, but the scale of this organized crime has officially gotten out of control. Going forward, how could any bettors trust that the NBA product is authentic? In some instances, it feels like we’d be better off wagering on the WWE.
When you look at the footage from the Beasley and Rozier cases, there is no denying these guys were trying to fix the games. The unfortunate part of all this is that now I feel like I am going to question everything in the NBA.
Going back to the most recent Finals, the San Antonio Spurs blew numerous double-digit leads in a single series against the New York Knicks. And this comes right after the Spurs played incredibly to beat the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.
But would that really happen in the NBA Finals? I would like to think not, but these recent federal cases lead me to believe that I know absolutely nothing about what is happening behind the scenes.
As a sports fan, I feel like I have been more than forgiving enough to certain players, teams, and leagues. Hopefully, something can be done to give us a little assurance that we’re not living in an alternate universe.
Read More
