Adam Silver Slammed For Clearing Malik Beasley After The Ex-Laker Pleads Guilty in Gambling Case

Back in October 2025, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver cleared former Los Angeles Lakers player Malik Beasley of accusations regarding his involvement in illegal sports betting involving wire fraud and sports bribery. At the time, there wasn't any solid evidence pointing to Beasley being guilty. However, fast-forward to the present day, to everyone's surprise, Malik himself is admitting to his crimes and has pleaded guilty.

Former sports columnist Rob Parker called out Silver for not doing a good job of assessing the situation in 2025. To Parker, Silver's incompetence in investigation will put a stain on the NBA's integrity.

"This goes out to Commissioner Adam Silver. He should hold a press conference ... and explain what has happened to his league that, don't forget, he was the one who wrote a piece in the New York Times: Embracing Gambling," Parker said on Fox Sports.

"All we've had since then is a lot of questionable stuff that's going on in the NBA," Parker continued. "The Malik Beasley thing is even worse because somehow, some way ... the NBA cleared Malik Beasley of any wrongdoing involving gambling. Now, he's pleading guilty to those charges. If I'm Adam Silver, you've got to get your house in order to restore faith in the NBA."

According to reports, Beasley will officially change his plea to guilty on Dec. 9 in a Brooklyn federal court. However, he won't be going to prison on that day yet. Changing pleas usually takes several months of processing. Having that in mind, it's likely that Beasley will go to prison in early to mid 2027.

As of this writing, it isn't known how long Malik would be locked up for. But based on the maximum penalties for wire fraud and money laundering, he could be looking at 20 years of jail time.

But then, in July 2024, former NBA player Jontay Porter also pleaded guilty to a similar crime, and it was recommended that he serve time in prison for around three to four years. Having that in mind, there's a chance that Beasley could face only that little amount of time in jail or less, depending on his cooperation.

Basketball Legend Believes Malik Beasley's NBA Career is Over

Now that Malik Beasley has admitted to his crimes for illegally throwing games to manipulate the outcome for the benefit of sports bettors, he's set to face prison time in 2027. This isn't a good look for the NBA, especially because league Commissioner Adam Silver cleared him in 2025 of committing the act.

NBA legend Mychal Thompson shared his thoughts on ESPN regarding whether or not Beasley can still make his return to the league once his sentence in prison has concluded.

"Anytime you get involved in something like that, you cannot bring a guy like that back," Thompson said. "I don't understand the stupidity of that. (Malik Beasley) was getting ready to sign a $45-million contract... Why would you get involved in gambling?"

Either way, it's unlikely that we'll see Beasley play in the NBA again. No team would want to risk having a player who could potentially manipulate the outcome of the game because he intentionally played badly.