Judge Grants Ex-NBA Star Glen Davis Delayed Prison Sentence to Film Documentary Because of ‘Significant’ Money He Owes

Davis was sentenced to 40 months in prison earlier this year for his role in defrauding an NBA insurance policy

A judge has granted former NBA star Glen Davis a seven-week delay in his upcoming prison sentence after his lawyer requested that the basketball player have more time to finish filming a documentary about his life.

Davis, 38, was supposed to report to prison to begin a three-year, four-month sentence for insurance fraud on Sunday, Sept. 1, according to the Associated Press.

However, Judge Valerie E. Caproni, a U.S. district judge in the Southern District of New York, ruled last Wednesday that the former Boston Celtics star would be allowed to wait until Oct. 22 to report to prison in order for him to be able to complete his filming commitments.

Judge Caproni wrote in her decision that she believes the money Davis makes from the project could help offset the “significant” amount of money he owes, according to the AP. The outlet also reported that Davis’ lawyer, Brendan White, suggested the documentary “could go a long way” to helping the former athlete repay the $80,000 he was ordered to pay in restitution.

In November 2023, Davis was convicted for playing a role in a group who defrauded the NBA's players health and benefit welfare plan for more than $5 million over the course of several years, according to The Athletic. 

The former NBA champion was then sentenced to 40 months in prison on May 9 and ordered to pay back $80,000, per the outlet. He is also scheduled to have three years of supervision following his prison sentence.

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Twenty-two people, including former NBA players and doctors, were charged in a conspiracy to defraud the league’s benefits plan, ESPN previously reported. Fellow NBA stars Terrence Williams, William Bynum and Keyon Dooling, were among the other former players who were also convicted. 

The Athletic reported Williams was the alleged ringleader in the scheme to defraud the league’s policy, recruiting other players to file inflated invoices with the NBA for medical procedures and then pay him a cut of the money they made on each fraudulent invoice. Williams was sentenced to 10 years for his role in the scheme.

Davis and his attorneys told the court at his sentencing hearing in May that he had fallen on hard times following the end of his professional basketball career.

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"I've been struggling because basketball was taken from me,” Davis, who was a member of the 2008 Boston Celtics championship team, told Judge Caproni, according to the AP.

"That's all I know. I was expert at that," Davis added. "But when I lost basketball, I lost myself."

Nicknamed “Big Baby,” the former Louisiana State University star went on to play nine seasons in the NBA with the Celtics, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Orlando Magic. Davis played one final professional season with the St. John’s Edge in the former National Basketball Association of Canada before retiring from professional basketball in 2019.

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