Tim Donaghy sentenced to 15 months in prison

At last, a year after it was first revealed that there was a gambling scandal in the NBA, the ring-leader, disgraced referee Tim Donaghy has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce, plus 3 years of supervised release. He was given a 15-month sentence on each count, but the judge ruled that they would be served concurrently.

Donaghy says he let the sport down by taking thousands of dollars from a professional gambler in exchange for inside tips on games, such as how the games were going to be called, and interactions between players and officials — including ones he refereed. He’s dam right he let the sport down. This is a serious blow to the credibility of the NBA’s officiating, and this only feeds the fire of conspiracy theorists who believe the league favor’s certain teams and players to improve ratings and increase revenue.

For Donaghy, it’s over. For the NBA, this is just the beginning. Commissioner David Stern has tried covering this up and sweeping it under the rug saying that Donaghy was a rouge official who acted alone. This issue is not going to go away. Regardless of whether or not Donaghy said the things he said such as officials rigged the Lakers-Kings playoff series in 2002 to take it to a deciding game 7, which was also a revenue and ratings booster, to get less time, David Stern needs to be upfront and address the claims head-on.

This issue will not die until he does that. And if Donaghy is telling the truth, then I demand a Mitchell Report like investigation and congressional hearings and the like! But before any of that, I’d like to see what, if anything, David Stern has to say about the claims Donaghy made.