Almost two decades later, there seems to be no end to Rasheed Wallace’s anger against his alleged wrongdoers. Majority of the basketball enthusiasts will remember Wallace’s infamous 7-game suspension back in 2003. The former Detroit Pistons star faced this action from the league after his altercation with then-NBA referee Tim Donaghy. However, both Wallace and his fans protested the decision to be unfair. But after Donaghy’s involvement in a gambling scandal came to light, the 6’11” player had solid ground against him. And in a recent episode on ‘Sheed & Tyler’, he has again vented against the former referee and the NBA.

The 4x All-Star, recollecting the incident, stated he saw no logic in talking to the NBA after a point. Sheed explained his statement, mentioning that the league already had decided in favor of the ref. “No matter what I say. Y’all still gonna roll with the refs… I was so glad when that (Tim Donaghy) co** s***er got caught cheating… I’m telling you that vindicated everything then,” he said on the podcast.

Wallace, further in the podcast, also highlighted the hypocrisy of the NBA. He mentioned that after the action against Donaghy, he got a call from the officials telling him how he was right. Wallace further recalled that they wanted him to stay quiet and not create an issue out of this.

“Y’all want me to shut the f*ck up about it now, huh? I said, you know what? ‘If the right reporter who I f**k with asked me the right question… I’m gonna let the m*****f****rs know everything,'” he recollected saying on the call back then. And Wallace has his own fair enough justification for going this way. He highlighted on the podcast the fact that when players face fines or anything severe, the NBA does not stop the media from blasting them. But when the league lacks at some point, they expect the players’ support. 

A quick look back into the Rasheed Wallace and Tim Donaghy incident  

The date was January 15, 2003, and playing for the Portland Trail Blazers, Wallace was facing the Memphis Grizzlies. With 9:45 remaining in the game, Scott Wall called a foul on Wallace. After this Wallace tossed the ball towards Wall but he had his back turned. However, Tim Donaghy saw this and thought that the Trail Blazers star was throwing the ball at Wall. This led to Donaghy assigning a technical foul on Rasheed Wallace. 

“Ask him (Wall) if he thought I was throwing the ball at him!” Wallace angrily said to Donaghy, as per a 2003 article by ESPN. Wallace still played the full game and finished with his season-high score of 38 points, and 10 rebounds. However, an altercation occurred between Wallace and Donaghy after the game in the arena loading dock. As per the sources, Wallace called out the ref for his “bullsh*t” call. 

The situation escalated to where it was alleged that Wallace was about to get physical with Donaghy. In the later investigation by the league, it is said that it was Wallace’s past incidents taken into consideration that led to a 7-game suspension for him. However, after Donaghy’s cheating incident in the league, his credibility obviously went nil. This gave Wallace a chance to trust the ref rather than trusting him, and it seems he still holds that grudge.