There was an outrageous claim made by an ex-NBA official against the late, great Kobe Bryant a while ago. The ex-official claimed during a conversation with DJ Vlad that the NBA favored the Mamba and wanted him to score more points, even if it meant the refs had to do some dirty work to assist him.

Although there isn’t a shred of evidence to back that claim, Vlad brought up the topic again when NBA veteran John Salley made an appearance on his show recently.

Salley refuted the claims that there was any sort of “fixing” going on in the league. He also explained how the league works and what holds more importance to the fans. The 4x NBA champion said that certain players get an advantage in the league but refused to call it fixing. He said, “That’s not game fixing…This is the deal. This is a product. This is a league. People are not coming to see the referees referee. They’re coming to see the stars. They’re coming to see the Kobe’s, god rest his soul, back in his day, LeBron, Damian Lillard, the Greek Freak, Steph Curry shoot, Klay shoot, they’re not coming to see the referees referee… But to watch the stars play, that’s what people come for. You don’t buy the jersey of a star just to watch him sit on the bench.”

Salley said that the league requires the fans to take continued interest in the games and for that, there have to be some stars who can pull audiences to the arenas. As per the NBA veteran, this requirement makes the league favor some of the above-mentioned athletes.

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The ex-NBA official’s outrageous claims against Kobe Bryant

During his appearance on the DJ Vlad’s interview, Tim Donaghy said that during the LA Lakers playoff series against the Phoenix Suns, the refs were advised by the upper administration to go easy on the fouls and ensure that Kobe gets a lot of opportunities to score more points. He said that the league “wanted freedom of movement because they wanted higher scores in these games” from players like Kobe. However, in the series that Donaghy talked about, the Lakers ended up losing in game 7.

As for his own track record, Donaghy is far from being a good man for his job. He was caught in a gambling scandal in 2007 while he was working with the NBA. In July 2008, a federal judge sentenced him to 15 months behind bars for his involvement in the gambling scandal that shook the league.

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