2008 Celtics champion sentenced to prison despite emotional plea
Glen Davis.
Glen “Big Baby” Davis was sentenced to 40 months in prison on Thursday for his part in an alleged scheme to defraud the NBA’s health care benefits plan.
The former big man played eight NBA seasons from 2007-2015, including his first four with the Boston Celtics. Davis was a rookie member of the Celtics’ 2008 championship team, playing in 69 regular season games that campaign, plus 17 more in the playoffs.
He finished fourth in the league’s Sixth Man of the Year voting in his last season in Boston (2010-11) after averaging 11.7 points and 5.4 rebounds in 29.5 minutes per game.
The 38-year-old Davis posted career highs in points (15.1), rebounds (7.2), assists (2.1) and minutes per game (31.3) across 34 contests (33 starts) during his second season with the Orlando Magic in 2012-13.
He was among 18 former players arrested and charged in the alleged scheme in October 2021. Others included former Celtics teammate (and fellow 2008 champion) Tony Allen, former No. 3 overall pick and first-team all-rookie Darius Miles, two-time NBA champion Shannon Brown and former No. 11 overall pick Terrence Williams.
Davis was convicted in November 2023, according to a report by ESPN’s Alex Prewitt.
Per the report, 22 people have been sentenced for filing false medical claims with the NBA Players’ Health and Benefit Welfare Plan, with the LSU product earning the second-longest prison sentence.
Prewitt wrote that Davis has “maintained his innocence” since his arrest nearly three years ago. The reporter added that he “grew increasingly animated throughout the hearing, shaking his head, burying his face in his hands and sighing deeply in disbelief.”
“When I lost basketball, I lost myself,” he pleaded to Judge Valerie E. Caproni prior to the sentence. “I ask you, your honor, to help me get back to who I am.”
According to reports, Williams (who was sentenced to 10 years last August) “orchestrated” the scam. According to Prewitt’s report, the former New Jersey Nets draft pick was the “supposed ringleader” of what the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney’s Office has described as a “wide-ranging scheme to steal millions of dollars.”
Former guard Will Bynum was convicted alongside Davis in November and was given an 18-month sentence, in part for lying to a jury while under oath.
Per the ESPN report, there was a “raft of pre-sentencing documents submitted to the court on” the 2007 draft pick’s behalf, including letters of testimony from family, former coaches and multiple officials with the NBA players’ union in NBPA general counsel Ron Klempner and executive director Andre Iguodala.
“On behalf of all of our NBPA members past and present, I respectfully ask that you consider Glen’s accomplishments and the positive impact he has had on those around him when determining his sentence,” Iguodala wrote. “I recognize the seriousness of this legal matter and appreciate the thoroughness of the judicial process and ask for leniency with these factors in mind.”
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