Gambling, the NBA & Last-2-Minute Reports: Still a Tough Call

Getty NBA refs have had a hard time appearing impartial, as Pacers coach Rick Carlisle can attest.

My personal procedure for social media posts that share the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report has been developed, tested and set in journalistic stone.

1. Hit send.
2. Duck.

Even as one is simply trying to convey the league’s findings from close games, there is certainty only that people from all sides of rooting interest — and even those without a horse in the race — will find common ground in the ability be angry. No need for the messenger to get struck by shrapnel.

Fans of the team getting the short end of a reviewed call (or non-call) have evidence their heroes got scre … uh, short-changed. Those on the other side who believe the league still got it wrong even after examining the video will accuse the NBA of tainting their win and also point to plays from earlier in the game where their guys were done wrong.

Should the L2M Reports Even Exist?

Then there are those in some media circles and elsewhere who advocate for the end of such reports from the league, saying they don’t solve anything and ultimately serve only get people like themselves all cheesed off.

But, friends, I’m here to tell you the L2M ain’t going anywhere. Actually I’m going to have a league source who was a part of creating the referee evaluation process many years ago tell you.

“The league got people from officiating and other basketball people together to come up with a standard on how referees should be evaluated and how the game was being called in general,” the source told Heavy Sports. “Over the years it evolved to serve the different factors that came into play.

“But why do they still have the Two Minute Report now? If you ask me, this is the net effect of gambling. Now the league is in partnership with gambling companies. Objectivity and transparency are a way to maintain confidence, so that people will continue to bet.

“If you don’t have objectivity and transparency, then what is to say we aren’t the WWE in our own way?”

NBA Hoped to Cut Conspiracy Theories

There also seems to be an element of heading off the conspiracy theorists at the pass, but there is perhaps nothing that will dissuade that set. As noted in this space recently, if the NBA were trying to engineer outcomes to favor big markets, would it really have had San Antonio winning five championships in the last 25 years while New York failed to even make the playoffs in 16 of those seasons?

The Knicks‘ last NBA title was 51 years ago. I mean, how does any self-respecting criminal fraud enterprise let that happen?

“There’s always been the saying that the league determines outcomes and they manipulate it for television ratings and they want bigger markets to win and all the rest of that stuff,” the executive said. “There’s always been that talk, and even if it’s a load of crap, you have to acknowledge that perception among some people. And apparently those are the people who have the sports-talk radio shows on speed dial.

“So if you’re going to be in bed with gambling, from a sponsorship standpoint, you cannot have those rumors out there. You cannot have the belief that this thing isn’t completely on the up and up. You’ve got to expose yourself basically.”

NBA Once Fought Gambling Ties

Once upon a time, the NBA fought hard against the growing incursion of sports gambling, sending its lawyers to argue the pitfalls.

But when the powers realized the gambling wave was about to overtake them, they and other sports league grabbed surfboards.

“The league saw that sports betting was going to be bigger and was getting legalized in more and more states,” said a source who’s been involved with the NBA in numerous roles. “They wanted to get out in front of it, and they’re good at that. Also, in terms of perception, the league was coming off the Tim Donaghy scandal and then the books and other media that kept that alive.

“(Then-commissioner David) Stern had the problem of restoring the faith in the referees after Donaghy. The NBA wants to show it has nothing to hide, and the Two Minute Report is one of the ways to do it.

“But they were doing the process of rating all the calls in a game way before any of this. They were doing it back when they were trying to keep gambling — even legalized gambling — away from the game. They were getting pressure from owners about the referees, and they wanted to show that they were rating them on every single call. And that’s what the NBA uses to determine which officials get to work the playoffs and then each round, which for the refs means earning more money. So there’s an incentive beyond just doing your job the best you can.”

The incentive for the NBA has always been to present a product as clean and devoid of controversy as possible. And as sports betting has entered the picture to increasing degree, the Last Two Minute Report is being listed as a prohibitive favorite to remain.