LeBron James’ Manager Admits To Betting With Illegal Bookie

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Maverick Carter, the longtime business partner and manager of LeBron James, placed 20 bets on basketball and football games through Wayne Nix, a bookie who pled guilty in 2022 to running an illegal gambling operation.

Nix, who was the target of an extensive federal investigation, previously made headlines for booking high-dollar sports wagers for former Major League Baseball player Yasiel Puig, who will stand trial in January for allegedly lying to federal investigators. According to a Sports Handle report earlier this year, Puig bet on tennis, football, and basketball, but not on baseball.

As the Post pointed out, the NBA Players Association bars agents from betting on NBA games, but there are no such restrictions on business managers like Carter. He reportedly told federal agents that he couldn’t recall whether he bet on any games involving James’ current team, the Los Angeles Lakers. The Post reported that in November 2019, the COVID-interrupted season that resulted in James’ only NBA championship with the Lakers, a business partner of Nix’s told Carter he could up his bets to $25,000 per game.

Breaking news: Maverick Carter, longtime manager and business partner of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, admitted to betting on NBA games through an illegal bookie, according to federal law enforcement records reviewed by The Post. https://t.co/x5ofxfrgHw

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 30, 2023

Carter has not been charged with any crime, and there has been nothing to suggest that James wagered on any games or placed bets through Nix or his Sand Island Sports platform. The Post did report that Joey Schottenstein, whose family James is close to, was a “significant client” of Nix. Schottenstein is the son of billionaire American Eagle Outfitters founder Jay Schottenstein.

Old Bulls connected to Nix

The feds also interviewed former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen, who acknowledged placing one bet with Nix on the 2019 Super Bowl after initially saying he “did not recall” doing so.

Furthermore, the Post reported that Nix once played in a members-only tournament at Michal Jordan’s private golf club in Florida, one in which “multiple NBA owners” also competed. Jordan owned the Charlotte Hornets at the time, but there is no indication from court records that he used Nix to place any bets.

Carter grew up in Akron, Ohio, with James. The two men own a multimillion-dollar media company together, as well as minority stakes in the Boston Red Sox and the English soccer club Liverpool.