Former Basketball Player Rashid Byrd Sentenced 90 Years To Life For ‘Series Of Violent Sexual Assaults’

Rashid Byrd's violent past finally caught up to him.

Former basketball player Rashid Byrd was given a prison sentence of 90 years to life Friday, March 1, after being convicted of a “series of violent sexual assaults” over several years, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

“The LAPD is grateful for the brave women who came forward to tell their stories,” said Detective Dara Brown, lead investigator on the case, in a written statement. “While this investigation has gone on for years, we are thankful that Byrd is no longer on the streets.”

LAPD NEWS: Former NBA Player Sentenced to 90 Years to Life in State Prison pic.twitter.com/qnF7mZ0xxQ

— LAPD PIO (@LAPDPIO) March 2, 2024

Byrd, 42, has been imprisoned since detectives arrested him for sexual assault in September 2020. He was held on a $4,150,000 bail, where he remained in custody until his conviction, The New York Post reports.

The assaults, according to authorities, took place in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties between 2015 and 2020.

After receiving a complaint against Byrd of sexual assault in 2019, investigators discovered Byrd was convicted of a sexual assault involving a different woman in 2010. They also learned he had been arrested for sexually assaulting a young woman in Washington in 2005.

“He started as a charmer, playing up his status as an athlete and pseudo-celebrity, but that quickly faded into rapes and violence,” LAPD Detective Dara Brown said in a statement.

Although Byrd, who apparently never attended a four-year college, went undrafted in 2003, he signed contracts with two NBA teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings. He never played for either team.

He did play in the D-League, the NBA’s developmental league now known as the NBA G League, with the Lakers’ Los Angeles D-Fenders and the Houston Rockets’ Rio Grande Valley Vipers during the 2008-2009 season. He played in 21 games. Byrd also played in Europe.

Byrd appeared in several commercials before being seen in the 2008 Will Ferrell comedy Semi-Pro. He was also in the 2009 documentary, Bring Your ‘A’ Game, starring Mario Van Peebles, Ice Cube, and Sean “Diddy” Combs.