Basketball star Malik Beasley is in more trouble than imagined after it was revealed that the NBA has opened an investigation into the Detroit Pistons player for gambling.
Beasley’s current debacle has come to a head during talks with the basketball franchise over a contract extension. Those talks on a three-year, $42 million offer have now stalled as a result of the player’s off-court predicament.
According to court records obtained by The Detroit News, Beasley has been sued twice by his Detroit landlord and having part of his Pistons paycheck seized having put the paycheck up as a sort of collateral.
In March 2025, Beasley was sued in Detroit’s 36th District Court for failing to pay $14,150 in rent at The Stott although the case was dismissed weeks later. The apartment building in downtown Detroit is owned by Bedrock Detroit – an arm of a business which owns the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Then in June 2025, the player was sued by The Scott for owing $7,355 in rent, with the case scheduled for a July 15 hearing. Meanwhile, Beasley lost a case to celebrity barbershop, Cairo Cuts, in January 2025 with the judgement
The records also show that apart from his landlord, Beasley stacked up debts with a celebrity barber, a dentist, a marketing firm, as well as a lender. Beasley was sued in April by Hazan Sports Management Group Inc., a boutique New York-based agency.
The firm accused Beasley of failing to repay $650,000 in cash that was given to him as an advance against future marketing revenue from his name, image and likeness, according to a federal complaint obtained by The Detroit News.
Hazan wants at least $2.25 million for alleged breach of contract. Beasley was served with a copy of the lawsuit at The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad hotel in New York City on April 21, but has not responded to the lawsuit.
The player would go on to score nine points as the Pistons beat the New York Knicks 100-94 in Game 2 of their NBA playoff series that night.
Hazan’s lawsuit was filed in a federal court in New York more than three years after a company that specialises in loaning money to professional athletes won a nearly $5.8 million judgment against Beasley in Maryland.
A copy of the judgment was filed in Minnesota in 2022 when Beasley was playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves. It is unclear why Beasley borrowed money from South River Capital but court records show part of the debt — $1.13 million — was satisfied in early 2023.
“I have been with Malik for a long time, I have seen a lot of people around him come and go, but I have stayed away from any of his financial management or mismanagement or decisions he would make with money,” Beasley’s criminal defense lawyer, Steve Haney, told The Detroit News.
Also, back in August 2024, Beasley signed a deal with a Florida firm that provides bridge loans to pro athletes. As collateral, Beasley pledged his current and future NBA contracts, according to a copy of the financing statement.
“It is very common for professional athletes to go to third-party lenders and get advances on contracts. It’s a part of the business of professional sports,” Haney continued. “Many of these lenders are predatory and charge extremely high interest rates and outrageous fees that border on usury.”
Beasley thrived on the basketball court last season for the Pistons while coping with a federal gambling investigation and more than $8 million worth of financial problems.
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.