Former NBA player Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis was granted a delay for his 40-month prison term to finish a documentary project.
Davis, 38, was part of the 2008 Boston Celtics Championship team. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana native was one of two dozen former players and doctors convicted of cheating the NBA Plays’ Health and Benefit Welfare Plan for over $5million.
On Wednesday, Judge Valerie E. Caproni said Davis could wait until October 22 to serve his three-year, four-month sentence. She postponed Davis’ Sunday deadline to report to prison for seven weeks after his lawyer said he was working to complete a documentary about his life.
Attorney Brendan White requested the delay on Tuesday, citing a Hollywood production company’s need to finish the project.
White wrote that the project was delayed due to difficulties arranging interviews with professional teammates and colleagues for the film.
Former NBA player Glen Davis was granted prison delay to finish a documentary project
Davis was sentenced to 40 months in prison for defrauding the NBA’s Health and Welfare plan
The lawyer also wrote that the documentary’s revenue ‘could go a long way’ toward satisfying $80,000 in restitution.
Upon granting the postponement, Caproni wrote that Davis ‘owes significant restitution’ to a victim and hopes that ‘optimism about the financial rewards of this film is warranted.’
At a May 19 sentencing, Davis referenced an injury that derailed his NBA career and said that he has been ‘struggling because basketball was taken away from me,’ for the past five or six months.
‘That’s all I know. I was an expert at that,’ he said. ‘But when I lost basketball, I lost myself.’
His lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, said at sentencing that Davis had faced a ‘colossal streak of bad luck’ and was so impoverished that he once asked her for $800 so he could keep his phone working.
Davis was part of the Boston Celtics team that won the NBA Championship in 2008
Davis played for the Celtics, Orlando Magic, and the LA Clippers from 2007 to 2015
Caproni said at the time, though, that Davis hadn’t fully cooperated with Probation Department officers and hadn’t taken steps to address his problems.
A federal prosecutor, Ryan Finkel, told the judge at sentencing that Davis was ‘probably the most successful basketball player’ caught in the insurance conspiracy.
‘He was on a championship team,’ Finkel said.
Davis played for the Celtics, Orlando Magic, and the LA Clippers from 2007 to 2015 after leading LSU to the 2006 NCAA championship
