Stern to face more backlash if Donaghy fingers others

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The news that former NBA referee Tim Donaghy will provide federal prosecutors with names of other NBA officials involved with gambling is not entirely surprising. What would be surprising is if any of the allegations raise further questions about the way certain games were officiated.

By all accounts, Donaghy's actions were an isolated incident. The veteran official acted alone when he provided friends and cohorts with privileged information regarding what officials would be working specific games and inside information on potential biases between referees and players. To date, there has been no evidence that any other NBA referee colluded with Donaghy and no reason to speculate that they did.

Still, that doesn't change the fact that Donaghy could potentially make NBA commissioner David Stern's life very uncomfortable.

At the press conference held to address the Donaghy matter, Stern was clear: gambling by NBA referees, in any form, will not be tolerated. Any violation of said rule would "most likely" result in that referee losing his or her job.

But if the reports are true, Donaghy is prepared to name as many as 20 referees who have been involved with gambling, most of which came at casinos.

In a way, the league and referees association has been expecting this. Earlier this month a source inside the referees association told me that they would not be surprised if Donaghy attempted to take some of the heat off himself by spreading the blame elsewhere, adding, "we know who we are dealing with."

It seems as though that is precisely what Donaghy is preparing to do. And for the NBA, that could be disastrous.

What if Donaghy is right? What if nearly 20 officials have spent time at the craps table in Las Vegas or spent one of their off days in a casino in Milwaukee? What if a handful of them participate in a Sunday football pool? Doesn't make them criminals (gambling in appropriate venues, in case you forgot, is still legal in the U.S.) but it does violate the letter of the NBA's laws.

Stern would be compelled to suspend and/or fire all the officials involved, an act that would certainly bleed into games if the league is forced to bring in inexperienced officials to pick up the slack. Remember the referee lockout at the beginning of the 1995-96 season? The negative response to those replacement officials only bolstered the importance of qualified referees in the sport. If Stern chooses not to take action, it will only serve to increase the level of distrust the public feels toward the league. For many people, allowing officials to break any rules in the wake of the Donaghy scandal would be tantamount to condoning their actions. That is something the league simply cannot allow to happen.

Stern may have wanted this crisis to be over, but it looks like he is about to be painted into a corner.