Gilbert Arenas accuses NBA of rigging games & favoring superstars

Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas recently talked about the sensitive topic of alleged unfair officiating in the league during an interview with DJ Vlad on YouTube.

Tim Donaghy, a former referee, known for his involvement in a betting scandal, recently shared an interesting insight on how officiating is controlled in the NBA. Donaghy suggested that star players often get favorable calls, allegedly a result of the league directing referees on how to officiate games.

Similarly, Arenas said that the business side of things often takes precedence over fair play.

"You know what the NBA is, it's an entertainment," Arenas said. "It's entertainment first. So, you have to think of it like that. They're in the business of entertaining not the business of basketball.

According to Arenas, stars are often favored and given an advantage, especially in important games. He believes this is because having big-name players on the court attracts more fans, leading to higher revenue for the league. Arenas even used the late Kobe Bryant to support his claims.

"That's the truth. There's things that Kobe's going to get away with that I couldn't get away with."

Arenas talked about it at the 3:38 mark in the following video:

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Some fans claim the Knicks' Game 2 win was rigged by the NBA referees

There are countless examples of how fans claim the NBA continues to rig games. But the most recent example came in the 2024 Playoffs in Game 2 of the New York Knicks vs Philadelphia 76ers where the Knicks overcame the Sixers to get a 2-0 lead in the series.

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse tried to call a timeout with 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter. However, some people said that he was deliberately ignored by the referees right before the Knicks stole the ball from Tyrese Maxey, eventually giving New York the advantage to tie and later win the game.

Watch the sequence below to see Nurse call a timeout.

The fans expressed their frustration with what happened.

"Rigged league," one fan said on X.

"Refs spent the whole game making sure the Knicks were going to win why would the end be any different," one fan accused the referees of fixing the game results.

"The NBA is the most rigged league. Sixers robbed," a fan expressed his disappoinment in detail.

Contrary to the opinion mentioned earlier, many fans believed the referees made the correct decision by ignoring the request for a timeout.

"Yeah I’d ignore him too if I was a ref and he tried calling the timeout on a loose ball," a fan commented.

"Pretty sure your team needs to have possession of the ball to call timeout," another fan mirrored the sentiment.

"Bro what?? The ball was loose," chimed in another fan.

After the game, the head coach was visibly upset with how it played out and aired his frustration. Whether the game was manipulated by the league or not remains uncertain at this time.