The NBA is mad — big mad — about the latest story from ESPN about Tim Donaghy, and they've released an official statement about the matter.
Three days ago, ESPN released a story about Donaghy, an NBA ref, whom they say “conspired” to fix games. In a nutshell, the official statement about Tim Donaghy being merely a “rogue” referee who had a gambling and a drinking problem was not true. In fact, ESPN's story is that Donaghy is just one of many that fix games for the benefits of teams.
Predictably, this did not sit well with the NBA brass, and in an unprecedented move, they released a statement about the matter.
In their official statement, the league said that the Tim Donaghy story added “nothing new” to the official record. Additionally, they said that this was just a vainglorious attempt of the outlet to revive an old story, while also filling their reporting with errors. Finally, they said that they did their part when it came to the punishment of the referee, and didn't feel the need to proverbially beat a dead horse.
A summary of their statement is below:
“We recognize there is strong interest in the subject of expanded sports betting and the measures sports organizations should undertake to protect integrity. However, the ESPN Article does not add anything material to the record of what happened over a decade ago. There is no dispute that Tim Donaghy engaged in criminal conduct as an NBA referee, costing him his job, his reputation, and for a time, his freedom. The Pedowitz investigation focused on understanding what Donaghy did and how he did it so we would be best equipped to protect the integrity of our games going forward.”
We'll see if ESPN responds.
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