Rumors

The court records and details about a years-long history of financial problems are emerging as FBI agents conduct an investigation involving Beasley that is focused on wire fraud, gambling and prop bets. Beasley, who has signed NBA contracts worth more than $59 million during his career, has not been charged with wrongdoing, but the Pistons have pulled back on a three-year, $42 million offer amid the FBI investigation involving the free agent, according to a source familiar with the offer who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

Detroit News

“[My bodyguard] was 10 feet away. So whatever’s going to happen would have to happen quick. Because that brother right there that is 330 plus us, that is my bodyguard, not to mention a whole bunch of other people that I usually have around me. I really have very little to be worried about. “Anybody could get got, and I’m fully aware of that. But one of the other things on a very, very serious note, everywhere I go, ESPN knows. Local police, FBI, everything. He’s just with me. But I’m always guarded because I’m an investment. We got people out here that’s got people protecting them, and they bringing in a little paper. I make a lot of money for the mouse. So if people want to think that I’m just walking around and I don’t have anybody around me. He’s just like my blood. That’s like my brother right there.”

Awful Announcing

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier reportedly is also under federal investigation after a game in March 2023, when he was still on the Charlotte Hornets, was flagged by an integrity monitoring company for potentially abnormal betting behavior. The NBA investigated Rozier and cleared him of any wrongdoing, a league spokesman said. The federal government continues to investigate. “The NBA cleared Terry Rozier after a serious, professional investigation that included the FBI,” said Jim Trusty, Rozier’s attorney. “Our hope is that the prosecutors finish running down their leads, recognize there is no criminal case to be made against Terry, and that they have the professionalism to clear his name both privately and publicly.”

New York Times

Following a years-long FBI investigation, federal authorities have accused Henley of kidnapping and fatally shooting a young rapper in the face and leaving his body in the Las Vegas desert over perceived disrespect and directing the robbery of an unlicensed L.A. marijuana dispensary that had stopped making extortion payments. Henley also allegedly defrauded companies, donors, athletes and celebrities — including NBA star Draymond Green and Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal — persuading them to donate to his charities and later allegedly transferring the money to his personal bank accounts.

Los Angeles Times

The FBI is warning sports leagues about crime organizations targeting professional athletes following a string of burglaries at the homes of prominent NFL and NBA players.

ESPN

The NBA is urging its players to take additional precautions to secure their homes following reports of recent high-profile burglaries of dwellings owned by Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley Jr. and Kansas City Chiefs teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. In a memo the NBA sent to its team officials, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, the league revealed that the FBI has connected some burglaries to “transnational South American Theft Groups” that are “reportedly well-organized, sophisticated rings that incorporate advanced techniques and technologies, including pre-surveillance, drones, and signal jamming devices.”

Associated Press

Conley’s home was broken into on Sept. 15 when he was at a Minnesota Vikings game and jewelry was taken, officials told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Portis said his home was broken into on Nov. 2 and has offered a $40,000 reward for information related to the incident. The homes of Mahomes and Kelce were broken into within days of each other last month, according to law enforcement reports, and the NFL issued a similar warning memo to its teams this week. The NBA memo, relaying information from the FBI, said the theft rings “are primarily focused on cash and items that can be resold on the black market, such as jewelry, watches, and luxury bags.”

Associated Press

Gilbert Arenas on steroids: ‘We don't know what the 90s and the 80s players are doing because it was only one test, okay? October 1st everyone got tested, October 1st. That means, October 2nd if you wanted inject into your ass you got a whole year to do whatever you want. So if you want to insinuate a dude (LeBron James) who got probed by the FBI and have four tests now is on it then how are you not looking into the 90s or the 80s when they played all 82 games with no medical staff, no ankle injuries, these motherf*ckers didn’t even catch flues, all of them were bald headed by the age of 25, so we we're going to pretend this part of History in the 90s and 80s that these wasn't the most baldheaded 25-year-olds that we ever seen, that they didn't all look like Rambo-f*cking-2, right in the middle of the steroid crisis in every sport, just somehow NBA was cool?’

YouTube

To better contextualize its ending, it’s important to recall how Ignite began. The NBA launched the program in April 2020, with a commitment from top-ranked prospect Jalen Green, now the Rockets’ third-year guard who is spearheading Houston’s late-season playoff bid in the Western Conference. Ignite arrived on the heels of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leading a group investigation into the underworld of college basketball recruiting — a shadow game that also provoked an FBI probe into sneaker company and agency payola connections within numerous major NCAA programs. The NBA, too, watched a pair of highly touted prospects, LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton, depart for Australia’s National Basketball League before they would enter the 2020 NBA Draft.

Yahoo! Sports

Former Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal is revealing a funny story about his time on the team with the late star Kobe Bryant. O'Neal says he was admonished by other Lakers legends for attempting to haze Bryant. “I hazed Kobe one time and it's like the FBI came to my room the next morning,” O'Neal said, per his podcast The Big Podcast with Shaq. “They was like, ‘he’s off limits.’ I was like, what you mean he off limits? Like he off limits…Jerry West came down, Mitch Kupchak, Magic brought his punk ass down like hey man leave him alone.”

Clutch Points

Jared Weiss: Joe Mazzulla, randomly: “No one’s ever asked me what’s my favorite scene from The Town…My favorite is Doug McCray’s getting ready to leave town and he skips by the FBI’s car and leaves a nice well thought out written note and leaves it under the antenna.”

Twitter

An NBA G League player was arrested by FBI agents in connection to the mysterious disappearance of a 23-year-old Washington medical assistant in Las Vegas Chance Comanche, 27, was booked into the Sacramento County Jail after a warrant for first-degree kidnapping was issued on Friday. He was released from the Stockton Kings, a developmental affiliate of the Sacramento Kings, shortly after his arrest.

New York Post

Former University of Arizona basketball player Chance Comanche was released by the G League Stockton Kings on Friday after he was arrested as a person of interest in an out-of-state FBI investigation.

Sacramento Bee

They said, “They will try to hack your phone if you ever talk about them.” So it’s been, I was just shocked to listen to all this, like stories and stuff, but I was like, you know what? The threat is real. And now I don’t know if you guys heard about it or not, but after all these like threats and death threats, especially coming from Turkey, I had a conversation with FBI. And when I was playing basketball, they had to come to my place and they set up this thing called panic button, they said, “Whenever you feel uncomfortable, push that button, we’ll be there in two, three minutes.” There was a button right next to my bed and one in the living room. They said, “Whenever you feel uncomfortable, push that button. We’ll be there.” And it’s very crazy to me, because I live in the most freest country in the world America, but I had to live with a panic button right next to my back to feel safe.

KOSU