The first referee in NBA history to be jailed for cheating, how Tim Donaghy fixed the game

Tim Donaghy is the first referee in NBA history to be imprisoned for cheating and manipulating game results. He is also the first referee to be judicially sanctioned for similar serious violations in the century-old history of the four major North American sports leagues. This stain not only completely destroyed his personal professional reputation, but also brought an unprecedented impact to the fairness of the NBA.

From being officially certified as a referee through selection in 1994 to suddenly submitting his resignation in September 2007 and leaving sadly, Tim Donaghy's NBA referee career spanned 13 seasons. During this period, he has officiated a total of 772 regular season games and 20 playoff games. With his relatively mature penalty rhythm and control of the game, he has gradually become a senior referee trusted by the league. He has even participated in many classic game referees that have been recorded in NBA history, including the 2004 "Auburn Hills Brawl" that shocked the entire league. At that time, as one of the on-field referees, he witnessed the chaotic scene of escalating conflicts between players and fans. His professional performance at that time was praised by many media. However, just 11 days after submitting his resignation, this senior referee who held the power of officiating and was labeled as a "Golden Referee" and "Famous Referee" was taken away by the FBI for investigation on suspicion of participating in illegal betting and manipulating the results of the game.

After nearly a year of judicial investigation and trial evidence, Tim Donaghy was finally found guilty of multiple charges including "participating in an interstate gambling syndicate, deliberately manipulating NBA game results, and damaging the league's business reputation and sports integrity" and was sentenced to 15 months in prison. According to relevant laws and the circumstances involved in the case, he could have faced a maximum sentence of 33 months in prison. The core reason why the judge gave him a lighter sentence was that he showed a high degree of cooperation during the investigation. He not only fully admitted his criminal facts, but also proactively confessed to many colleagues who also engaged in "black whistle" behavior, providing key clues for the judicial authorities to further investigate the case. In addition to the prison sentence, the court also ruled that Tim Donaghy must pay $217,000 in civil damages to the NBA to compensate for some of the economic losses caused to the league by his violations.

This "Donaghy gambling and match-fixing case" can be called the most serious crisis of confidence in the history of the NBA. Previously, the league had always focused on "professional refereeing and fair judgments" as its core selling points, but Donaghy's behavior directly penetrated the fans' basic understanding of "fair competition in competitive sports", causing the good public image that the league had maintained for decades to plummet. While the incident was brewing, then-U.S. Democratic Congressman Rush Holt made an emergency meeting with then-NBA President David Stern to seek solutions to issues such as loopholes in the league's referee supervision and guarantees of game integrity. He was worried that the scandal would further damage the overall credibility of American professional sports. Faced with the pressure of public opinion, David Stern has always insisted in multiple public statements that "the Donaghy incident is just an example and does not represent the overall level of the league's referee community." At the same time, he quickly introduced a series of regulatory measures such as referee background checks, whistleblowing video reviews, and prohibiting referees from participating in any form of gambling. Only then did the negative impact of the incident gradually come under control. But the dissipation of the impact does not mean the eradication of the problem. The scandal has left a "sequelae" that is difficult to cure. It indirectly promoted the process of legalizing gambling in the NBA, and the idea of ​​​​"blocking is worse than dispersing" began to be taken seriously by the league's top brass.

On August 1, 2018, the NBA officially announced a long-term strategic partnership with MGM, a world-renowned gaming company. This move marked the official legalization of gaming business in the NBA. The league not only allowed gaming companies to become official partners, but also gradually opened up game data licensing, event broadcast cooperation and other related businesses. The starting point of all this is inextricably linked to the Donaghy incident that year.

Next, let’s focus on the core question: How did Tim Donaghy and the capital power behind him manipulate the game? What other controversial events were named by him?

1. Lakers vs. Kings in the Western Conference Finals of the 2001-02 season - walking the Lakers for the "three consecutive championships"

This statement came from Tim Donaghy's public revelations in an interview with the media after he was released from prison.

In the Western Conference Finals of the 01-02 season, the Sacramento Kings, with Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic, and Mike Bibby, were in great shape. They took a 3-2 lead in the first five games and were only one step away from the finals. But in the end, the Kings failed to withstand the pressure. The Los Angeles Lakers, led by Kobe and O'Neal, lost two games in a row and were unfortunately eliminated with a total score of 3-4. The Lakers successfully advanced to the finals and finally won the championship, achieving three consecutive championships. Tim Donaghy said bluntly in breaking the news: "The core goal of the league at the time was to guarantee the Lakers to complete three consecutive championships, because it would bring greater commercial value. The Kings were just sacrificed victims, and that should have been their championship."

Although Donaghy's statement lacks direct evidence, and it is difficult to determine whether it is true or false, but through the penalty data of the sixth game of the series, many anomalies can indeed be found, and the Lakers won all the games. 40 free throw opportunities, including 27 free throws in the fourth quarter alone. This data is extremely rare in the entire NBA playoff history. Among them, O'Neal relied on his strong inside impact to score 17 free throws in the game. The Kings insiders Vlade Divac and Scott Pollard, who directly faced him, were both sent off due to too many accumulated fouls, and each received a technical foul, causing the Kings interior defense to completely collapse. On the other hand, the Kings only had 25 free throw opportunities, and only 9 in the fourth quarter. The disparity between the penalty scale on the offensive and defensive ends also made this game one of the most controversial "black whistle suspicions" in NBA history.. There are different opinions on the authenticity of this statement, and the impact it brings, but many of the penalty controversies are indeed worthy of discussion. On the one hand, the direct reason for Green's suspension was that the accumulated technical fouls reached the standard, but the penalty for his last technical foul was obviously controversial. At that time, the referee did not call a technical foul during the game, but added an additional penalty through video replay after the game. On the other hand, Green's technical foul was caused by his improper response after being "hurried" by LeBron James. In the previous Western Conference Finals, Green had the behavior of "kicking" Thunder player Steven Adams, but was not whistled for a technical foul. The penalty scales for the two similar behaviors were completely different, which is difficult to understand. In addition, Warriors core player Stephen Curry was whistled for six fouls and left the game in the sixth game. This penalty was also full of weirdness. As a defender who mainly focuses on shooting and has relatively few confrontations, Curry has committed 6 fouls and left the game in key events such as the Finals. The severity of his penalty standards is far higher than that in regular games, which also indirectly affects the trend of the game.

6. "Roaring God" Rasheed Wallace committed 41 technical fouls in a single season - the referee's gambling tool

This inside story came from Tim Donaghy's video connection with the person involved.

Rasheed Wallace is known for his fiery temper and frequent questioning of referee decisions. While playing for the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2000-01 season, he was whistled for 41 technical fouls, setting a historical record for the number of technical fouls in a single season in the NBA. The nickname "Roaring King" became widely known.

Tim Donaghy revealed in a video connection with former NBA players Bunch Wells and Rasheed Wallace that the reason behind Rasheed Wallace's 41 technical fouls in a single season was not just as simple as his personal hot temper. It's more because he, along with Bunchy Wells, fell into the "gambling trap" of himself and other referees and became a "tool man" in the gambling between the referee groups. Donaghy bluntly said that there would be a small bet between him and several other referees at the time, each betting $20 on who would be the first to call a technical foul on Rasheed Wallace or Bunch Wells during the game. In addition, this may also be mixed with "private revenge" by the referee group. Rasheed Wallace had previously been dissatisfied with Tim Donaghy calling him a technical foul. After the game, he chased him emotionally from the court to the garage, and almost had a physical conflict with Donaghy. This also made some referees dissatisfied with him and became more "strict" when calling penalties.

In addition to the above-mentioned targeted game manipulation, Tim Donaghy also confessed during the trial that he was involved in another core operation of betting on football. He would use his position as an NBA referee to provide his co-conspirators in the gambling ring with a variety of inside information that was not made public. This information includes the list of referee enforcement teams for each game, the personal relationships between different referees and players (such as which referees have conflicts with a certain player, which referees will be more lenient in punishing certain types of players), the real-time physical condition of the players (whether they are injured, how good or bad their condition is), etc. This key internal information can help the gambling syndicate predict the outcome of the game more accurately. With this information, Tim Donaghy can get at least US$5,000 in "information fees" for each game. He has made huge profits in the long run, and ultimately paid a heavy price for his illegal behavior. Including Damon Jones, who was arrested not long ago. The reason for his arrest was to reveal James' physical condition and appearance status to gamblers.