The Book The NBA Doesn't Want You To Read

We've obtained a copy of Tim Donaghy's book, Blowing the Whistle, which purports to expose the NBA's "culture of fraud" and which Random House was set to publish next month — until, a source says, the league threatened to sue. The book is the former referee's account of his time in the NBA and the events that led to his conviction, in 2007, on charges that he relayed inside information on NBA games — including several that he was working — to a professional gambler. Blowing the Whistle falls somewhere between a confessional and an indictment, both of his former colleagues and their employer. In the book, Donaghy alleges, among other things, that referee Dick Bavetta spoke unabashedly about his role as the NBA's "go-to guy." Donaghy cites Game 6 of the notorious 2002 Western Conference finals, between the Lakers and the Kings — a game that NBA conspiracy theorists still talk about as if it were basketball's grassy k...