Free-agent NBA guard Malik Beasley, who is the subject of a federal gambling investigation, has also been sued by a sports agency that he employed for alleged breach of contract.
The lawsuit was filed by Hazan Sports Management Group. Per the lawsuit obtained by Michigan Live and ESPN, Beasley has failed to repay Hazan Sports in full a cash advance of $650,000. The lawsuit seeks $2.25 million in damages and legal fees from Beasley.
Hazan Sports claims that it has tried to recoup the $650,000 since Beasley terminated his contract with the agency on Feb. 27. Per the lawsuit, the agency has seen “little more than drips and drabs of sporadic payments and vague promises to repay the balance over time.”
The lawsuit claims that in signing Beasley, Hazan Sports “elected to take a chance and make a substantial investment of time, effort, and resources in a player with known issues (including and especially financial issues).”
The lawsuit was filed in April but has resurfaced in the wake of a federal gambling probe into Beasley that was reported on June 29. Per ESPN, “at least one prominent US sportsbook noticed unusual betting patterns on Malik Beasley prop bets beginning in January 2024.”
Beasley’s $42M contract talks on hold due to gambling probe
The gambling probe was reported on the eve of the start of NBA free agency. Beasley played last season on a one-year, $6 million contract with the Pistons and was set to become a free agent.
Per ESPN, Beasley was in discussions with the Pistons on a three-year, $42 million contract. Those discussions were placed on hold after news of the gambling probe broke, according to ESPN. Beasley remains without a new contract.
On June 11, an attorney for Hazan Sports requested to extend the lawsuit to allow the parties to work on a settlement in anticipation of Beasley signing a new contract, according to ESPN.
From ESPN:
A potential deal was predicated on Beasley’s financial liquidity, “which is directly related to the commencement of the National Basketball Association’s (“NBA”) free agency period,” the attorney wrote.
Gambling probe dates to Beasley’s time with Bucks
Beasley, who played for the Detroit Pistons last season, was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks at the time that the alleged unusual betting patterns on his performance were flagged. Beasley has not been charged with a crime, per Beasley’s attorney Steve Haney.
“An investigation is not a charge,” Haney told ESPN. “Malik is afforded the same right of the presumption of innocence as anyone else under the U.S. constitution. As of now, he has not been charged with anything.”
Beasley has not directly addressed the gambling investigation or the lawsuit with media. The NBA addressed the investigation in a statement.
“We are cooperating with the federal prosecutors’ investigation,” NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said in a statement.
Malik Beasley is the subject of a federal gambling probe and a civil lawsuit seeking $2.25 million. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, file)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The lawsuit also accuses Beasley of breaching exclusivity provisions in his contract with Hazan Sports by hiring a new marketing agent 15 months after it was signed in November 2023.
Per Spotrac, Beasley has career earnings of $59.5 million over the course of his nine-season NBA career.
Beasley is not the first NBA player to be subject to a gambling investigation. Former Toronto Raptors reserve Jontay Porter received a lifetime ban from the NBA in 2024 after a league investigation determined that he “violated league rules by disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games.
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