With the news from Friday that just-resigned National Basketball Association referee Tim Donaghy bet on NBA games that he officiated over the past couple of seasons, we have been deluged with media predictions over the weekend that the “integrity of the game” has been compromised and that this is a huge problem for the NBA.
Frankly, my reaction was quite similar to that of Captain Renault’s in Casablanca after the Nazis ordered him to close down Rick’s — “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” (exclaimed while picking up his winnings).
In short, I don’t think the fact that an NBA referee was on the take will affect the entertainment value of the NBA one iota, and Dave Berri’s Sports Economist post explains why. My sense is that the biggest problem that the NBA will face in this entire episode is (1) explaining why the league office did not suspend Donaghy when it learned that he had a gambling problem and was somewhat of a loose cannon, and (2) if Donaghy, in an effort to obtain a more favorable sentence, starts fingering other point shaving referees. But as this NY Times article explains, NBA referees are already monitored closely, so the risk that a widespread point shaving problem exists among referees is unlikely.