Players placing bets on games is taboo. Innumerable sports fans were educated on this point in 1989 when hits king Pete Rose received a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball for betting on games while he was a manager.
Or upon watching “Eight Men Out,” the 1988 film about MLB’s Black Sox Scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers to lose the 1919 World Series.
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Or from recent incidents, including Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley’s suspension in 2022 for a year for betting on NFL games and Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter’s lifetime ban in 2024 for betting on NBA games, giving gamblers confidential information and taking himself out of a game to affect bets.
Rose’s ban was rescinded this year, but not until after he died, with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred reasoning that the lifetime part of the ban was no longer applicable.
Former Lakers guard Malik Beasley presumably can take solace in being alive Friday when he learned that he is no longer a target of the federal gambling investigation that his attorneys said harmed his reputation and cost him millions in potential earnings.
Read more: Pete Rose, ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson reinstated by Major League Baseball, making Hall of Fame election possible
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Attorneys Steve Haney and Mike Schachter told ESPN that they were informed by the court conducting the investigation that Beasley is not suspected of gambling on NBA games during the 2023-24 season.
“Months after this investigation commenced, Malik remains uncharged and is not the target of this investigation,” Haney told ESPN. “An allegation with no charge, indictment or conviction should never have the catastrophic consequence this has caused Malik. This has literally been the opposite of the presumption of innocence.”
It was reported one day before the official start of free agency in June that Beasley was under investigation by the Eastern District of New York. And, yes, Beasley was a free agent after averaging 16.3 points a game with the Detroit Pistons and setting a franchise record with 319 three-pointers.
Result? The three-year, $42-million…
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