iStockphoto
Fake stamp over basketball player next to a BMW
Only a tiny percentage of people who play basketball growing up have what it takes to actually get paid to step onto the court. One man recently led an employee at a hotel in Georgia to believe he was a member of that club, but it does not appear that was the case based on the police investigation he sparked after driving away in a pricey BMW that wasn’t his.
As someone who once leveraged his 6’10” frame to sneak onto the floor of the NBA Draft before convincing unsuspecting members of the public I’d been selected by the Jazz, I am familiar with what it’s like to pose as a pro basketball player and some of the benefits that come with supposedly being one.
There are multiple drinking establishments in New York City I’ve never returned to after helping myself to plenty of complimentary shots courtesy of bartenders who’d been led to believe they were serving a draft pick. However, I don’t feel particularly guilty about accepting them and certainly did not head into the evening actively looking to get free stuff under false pretenses.
However, it does sound like that was the case with one man who allegedly attempted to leverage his supposed status as a pro basketball player for something that costs a bit more than a couple of ounces of whiskey.
Police in Georgia are looking for a man who claimed to be a pro basketball player before stealing a car from a hotel valet
According to WJCL, the man in question drove up to the Hyatt Regency in Savannah, Georgia on August 14th in a white Audi and briefly stepped into the lobby before giving the valet a ticket for a gray 2026 BMW X5.
That may seem like a strange development at first glance, but the man in question reportedly told the valet he was a pro basketball player who was keeping “several” cars at the hotel before getting the key to the BMW, which he promptly drove off the property shortly after midnight.
As you can probably guess, a guest at the hotel eventually discovered that the car (a loaner from a dealer valued at $90,0000) was nowhere to be found, and it turned out the aforementioned Audi had been listed as stolen on August 13th.
The Savannah Police Department released images of the suspect, who is described as “a Black man between 20 and 30 years old” (it’s unclear how tall he is, but it does appear he used his height to his advantage).
The dealership that loaned out the BMW was able to trace it to a specific block in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina close to four hours away from Savannah, but it is currently unclear if it was successfully recovered.