"He was going to kill him" - Maligned ref Tim Donaghy reveals how he got back at Allen Iverson for threatening Steve Javie

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy recently shed light on a tense encounter between basketball icon Allen Iverson and game official Steve Javie. In his revelation, Iverson's clashes with Javie reached a point where the former league MVP allegedly gave death threats.

In an interview with DJ Vlad, Donaghy explains how Javie got the ire of Iverson, saying:

"Iverson had some history with Steve Javy and they had some issues going back and forth the last couple of games he officiated" Donaghy explained. "And the last game, Iverson had threatened Javy that he was going to kill him and you know we as an officiating staff felt that Iverson should have been suspended. They didn't suspend him. They just fined him."

After their dissatisfaction with how the league handled the player, the referee then planned how he and Steve Javie could get back on the high-scoring guard and agreed to keep calling palming violations on him.

"So I had the next game that he was playing in and the three of us officiated. That game came into comncusion that we were going to kind of stick it to him by calling palming violations on him, something like that he did every night and was let go. So we went out and each of us had called palming violation on him that night."

WATCH: Tim Donaghy explains how the referees reportedly plotted revenge against Allen Iverson

Allen Iverson gets the message on what the referees are trying to do

Having the experience to differenciate good calls from bad calls, Allen Iverson knew what the referees were trying to do. In a chance to speak to the officials, the former league MVP jokingly asked when the calls stop.

"You know he was smart enough that he got the message and he came up to me during a free throw and asked how long it was going to last," said Donaghy. "For he kind of knew he was going to, you know, have issues moving forward and I told him, I have no idea what he was talking about and kind of looked at him and laugned and he just shook his head like yeah right. He was smart enough to know what was going on."

Tim Donaghy maintained a poker face and denied any knowledge of what Iverson was talking about. Thus, the 11-time NBA All-Star had no choice but to acknowledge the consequences of his actions.

This incident serves as a reminder that there is more than what meets the eye on what is going on inside NBA games.