Former Kings Official Banned From NBA For Betting on Games

Jack Mai, the former assistant director of scouting for the Kings, has been barred from future employment in the NBA after a league investigation found that Mai had bet on numerous games, including ones involving the Kings. Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski initially reported the Mai banishment. League spokesman Tim Frank confirmed to FanHouse.com that Mai has been disqualified from future employment with any NBA team.

According to a league memo acquired by FanHouse, Mai was found to have bet small amounts on NBA games with acquaintances, and the league's year-long investigation found no proof Mai used his position with the Kings to influence the outcomes of games. But any betting on NBA games is barred by league rules.

Wojnarowski also reported, citing anonymous league sources, that business partners of Mai alerted the league of his betting habit. Allegedly, Mai had been using his position as a high-level Kings employee to broker NBA player appearances and equipment deals in China and Korea, with the implication that Mai profited off these deals.

Mai was reported by the Sacramento Bee to have abruptly resigned from the team last winter. As the team sought to cut costs amid its worst season in history, a campaign which ended mercifully at a 17-65 record, Mai left the Sacramento scouting department short-handed. At the time of Mai's departure, coaches Reggie Theus and Chuck Person had already been dismissed for performance issues. The remaining assistant coaches (including first-year assistant Shareef Abdur-Rahim), as well as then-new assistant general manager Jason Levien, picked up the scouting load in Mai's absence.

In Sacramento, little was made of Mai's departure. While the Kings have had great success in the NBA draft during Geoff Petrie's tenure as general manager, only Petrie and assistant GM Wayne Cooper have drawn the acclaim. Little has been written about Mai over the years. The Kings scouting department, led by Scotty Stirling, is a tightknit, older bunch. While the resignation should have raised eyebrows, most (myself included) chalked it up to the bad financial situation, and the unsure future for the entire Kings staff.

The league memo advises that Mai cannot work for any team in any capacity. For a basketball lifer, that's quite the penalty.