- Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy opened up on how he once targeted Allen Iverson
- Tim Donaghy said it was because Allen Iverson wasn’t suspended despite threatening referee Steve Javie
- Tim Donaghy knowingly called traveling and palming violations on Allen Iverson all game long and smirked at him while doing so
Tim Donaghy is a name that most NBA fans from the 2000s will never forget. He was an active NBA referee for 13 seasons until 2007 when he was removed after his involvement in a gambling scandal came to light.
Tim Donaghy’s stories all paint a wild description of what NBA refereeing is actually like, and he recently shared one involving himself and Allen Iverson.
“There was one game where Allen Iverson threatened Steve Javie,” Donaghy said. “And we felt as a staff that he should have been suspended, but he was only fined $25,000.
“I had the next game and the two refs and myself in the morning leading decided that Allen Iverson, although he carries the ball all the time and it’s never called, we were gonna enforce that rule against him that night.
“We went out in the first half and we all each took a turn. You know, we had a pact we’re all gonna call a palming violation on him. And I did tell Tommy that night to bet against Denver.
Tim Donaghy on Allen Iverson pic.twitter.com/yutAJ4ytFT
— Ant (@CheckAnfro) April 7, 2022
Tim Donaghy’s name brings up memories of potentially fixed playoff series and other such unsportsmanlike events that took place in the 2000s NBA. It is wild to think how much autonomy referees have in that situation.
Tim Donaghy Revealed How Allen Iverson Responded To The Targeted Officiating
Allen Iverson was a maverick as a player, and he was never one to take something blatantly unfair lying down. Unsurprisingly, he went up to Donaghy during the game, with the former referee revealing the conversation that transpired between them.
“Iverson came up to me during a free throw and he said, ‘Tim, how long is this gonna go on for?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’
“He goes, ‘You know what I’m talking about.’ And I just smirked and he smirked and he knew that he was going to have a problem for the next few big games because of what he did.
Allen Iverson kept it real on and off the court, so his confronting Donaghy while all this was going on makes complete sense.
The shocking part of the story lies in how blatantly comfortable Tim Donaghy and his fellow referees felt doing something like this. Listening to stories like these is enough to shake up the faith of even the most die-hard NBA fan.
Tim Donaghy Claimed That The NBA Was Also Involved In Changing Calls For Certain Players
A referee like Tim Donaghy and others like him can’t thrive in an environment where transgressions aren’t being overlooked. Fans have long speculated whether the NBA’s hierarchy knew and used these referees to alter game outcomes.
Tim Donaghy once said that Phil Jackson berated him about calling a violation on Michael Jordan. He explained that the idea was that while the violation was to be called on other players, it wasn’t meant to hamper Michael Jordan.
There are many stories from that era that fans will never know about, but the game isn’t as straightforward as people may think it is. The NBA’s past is not without its controversies and it remains to be seen if any more of those will come to light.
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