The first time the FBI rocked the modern age of pro basketball, its agents waited until six days after the San Antonio Spurs swept LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals to call the NBA commissioner with some very bad news.
When David Stern appeared at a news conference a month later to discuss allegations that one of his referees, Tim Donaghy, had bet on NBA games, Stern, the man who had built the league into a global juggernaut and ruled it unforgivingly, was a ghostly shade of pale.
The titan looked like a broken man.
“I can’t believe it’s happening to us,” Stern said that day.
