Ex-NBA Champ Glen “Big Baby” Davis’s Weight-Loss Plan? Prison.

He won't be able to get Big Macs while serving 40 months on a fraud sentence

Glen Davis playing for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2015.
Glen Davis hasn't suited up in an NBA game since 2015.
James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle via Getty

At the same time that one of his former teams was getting locked down by the defense of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA playoffs, Glen “Big Baby” Davis was figuring out what to do after being handed a 40-month prison sentence by a federal judge for his role in a 2021 health-care fraud scheme. Davis — who started in the pros with the Celtics and won a championship during his rookie season following a great college career at LSU that included an appearance in the 2006 championship game — opted to take his talents to Instagram Live while leaving the New York City courthouse where his sentence was issued.

The 38-year-old has maintained his innocence since indictments in his case were handed down in ’21 but was nonetheless found guilty of multiple fraud charges and conspiring to make false statements. So he took to IG Live to come clean about the bright side of possibly spending more than three years behind bars.

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“I’ma be swole, though. I swear to God I’m about to get in so much shape. On God. That’s the only way you can stop me from eating hamburgers is to put me in jail,” Davis said. “That’s what God said — ‘I’m gonna stop you eating hamburgers and put you in jail. You wanna stop eating hamburgers and Cheetos? You’re going to jail. So now, I’ma become The Rock.’”

Listed at 290 pounds, the former Celtic, Magic and Clipper has not played in the NBA since 2015. He was on the sidelines for a 2022 playoff game between the Celtics and Nets but didn’t stay very long because the courtside seat he was in belonged to someone else. (Davis later said his seat in the row behind had been taken.)

In addition to serving prison time, Davis was also ordered to pay $80,000 in restitution. Once he gets out, Davis will have three years of supervised release and must participate in financial management classes and undergo drug testing.

“When I lost basketball, I lost myself,” Davis told Judge Valerie E. Caproni before the sentence was handed down, according to ESPN. “I ask you, your honor, to help me get back to who I am.” By handing Davis jail time and giving him the chance to work on himself both inside and out, perhaps Caproni was doing just that in a weird kind of way.

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