Former NBA slam dunk champion Desmond Mason has been arrested in Oklahoma after authorities accused him of stealing a valuable piece of basketball memorabilia worth more than $40,000.
Mason, 48, who previously played for the Seattle SuperSonics and Oklahoma City Thunder franchise, was taken into custody Thursday in Oklahoma City, according to online jail records.
The former NBA star is accused of failing to return an NBA jersey and authentication paperwork that allegedly belonged to a Texas couple who hired him to professionally frame the memorabilia.
According to reports from KFOR and News9, Ryan and Cheryl Clemmons paid Mason nearly $10,000 to frame the jersey.
Authorities say Mason even sent the couple photos of the completed project back in April 2025 and promised to deliver it — but investigators claim communication suddenly stopped afterward.
The couple allegedly spent months trying to get answers before eventually reporting the situation to police.
According to authorities in Melissa, Texas, Mason later began giving excuses in January before an arrest warrant was issued the following month.
Police ultimately tracked Mason down in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown district and arrested him on the warrant.
Online records show Mason is currently being held on a “flight to avoid” status, meaning authorities believe he could be a flight risk.
After his arrest, Mason was reportedly taken to a hospital because of a medical issue before eventually being transferred to the Oklahoma County Detention Center.
So far, no attorney has been listed for him in county records.
Mason was once one of the NBA’s most exciting high-flying players.
After starring at Oklahoma State University, he was selected in the first round of the 2000 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics.
Just one year later, Mason won the 2001 NBA Slam Dunk Contest as a rookie, defeating players like Baron Davis and DeShawn Stevenson.
Over the course of his NBA career, Mason also played for the Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Hornets, Sacramento Kings, and later returned to the SuperSonics franchise after it relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder.
Outside of basketball, Mason also built a reputation as an accomplished artist specializing in oil painting and ceramics.
He previously described himself as an abstract expressionist artist and held multiple art shows in the Oklahoma City area.
“I paint by emotion so everything I create is a piece of me to some extent,” Mason once said in a 2013 interview.
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