Admit it, you probably wondered if the NBA suspended Draymond Green for Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors to help extend the series. While that’s just a conspiracy theory, it’s certainly been a popular one.
Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy knows a thing or two about how the league works, and his involvement in an illegal betting scheme makes him an expert in shady practices. So count him as someone who is suspicious of the events surrounding Green’s suspension after his Game 4 incident with LeBron James.
“I think when you look at the overt acts that Green has committed before, they were definitely more severe than this act, and yet he’s going to end up with a flagrant foul and suspension because of it,” Donaghy recently told SI Now. “In the past, I believe it was disregarded because (the Warriors) were down in the series. Here, they’re up in the series, so I think it’s a situation where, with that, it gives Cleveland a better chance of prolonging the series.”
He didn’t stop there, though. Donaghy, who was sentenced to 15 months in jail after pleading guilty to two charges related to the betting scheme, also believes officials were indirectly instructed to favor teams trailing in playoff series when he was with the league.
“Definitely indirectly with the tape sessions that took place and how they would show you plays that they wanted you to concentrate on in the game that,” Donaghy said. “It was always a situation where the team down in the series was going to benefit from those calls.”
If the league really was trying to prolong the NBA Finals by suspending Green, the plan worked, as the Cavaliers won Game 5 and kept their season alive.
Anyway, Donaghy also believes 100 percent of NBA referees bet on sports, so take what he says with a grain of salt.
Thumbnail photo via Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports Images
