Former Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen was arrested in Arkansas on Wednesday and charged with multiple drug offenses.
According to the incident report obtained by USA TODAY Sports, the 43-year-old Allen was a passenger in a vehicle driven by William Hatton, 33, when the Poinsett County Sheriff’s Department stopped it on Interstate 555 near Memphis.
The report says that during a search of the vehicle, an officer detected a strong odor of marijuana. After both men exited the vehicle, a search of Allen revealed a green leafy substance, identified as marijuana. A later search of the vehicle uncovered a cigarette box where a white powdery substance was found, which later tested positive for cocaine.
Allen, who was booked under his given name, Anthony, and Hatton were both charged with possession of meth or cocaine less than two grams, and possession of marijuana, less than four grams, and taken to the Poinsett County Detention Center in Harrisburg, Arkansas.
Allen was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2004 and won an NBA championship with the team in 2008.
However, he is best known for his time with the Grizzlies, where he played from 2010 to 2017 and was part of the ‘Core Four’ alongside Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and Zach Randolph. He earned his reputation as a defensive stopper, earning three first-team All-Defensive nods during his time in Memphis. Allen finished his career with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2018.
After his career ended, Allen has had several scrapes with the law. In 2021, he was arrested and charged with domestic assault and domestic vandalism. Those charges were later dropped.
In 2023, he was one of nearly two dozen former NBA players charged with trying to defraud the league’s health and welfare benefit plans. Allen was sentenced to community service and three years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud.
