Is The NBA Fixed? Many Followers Of The League Seem To Think So

As the 2013 NBA Finals continue to entertain those who tune in for each game, many people are beginning to think the National Basketball Association may in fact be rigged so that the prominent teams and superstar players remain the center of media attention. Certain NBA fans even believe that league Commissioner David Stern is doing everything in his power to help the Miami Heat win their second-consecutive NBA title since he's stepping down from his post on February 1^st, 2014 after 30 years as commissioner.

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Many San Antonio fans felt guard Manu Ginobili was not given the appropriate foul call after driving down the lane late in overtime of Game 6. Others though Danny Green's desperation heave to tie the game should have resulted in a foul on Chris Bosh, the defender on the play. Regardless of what folks believe, Miami and San Antonio are headed to a deciding Game 7 after the Heat battled back to claim Game 6 on their home floor.

WATCH THE END OF GAME 6 TO SEE THE AFOREMENTIONED PLAYS

While it's understandable that certain fans - especially San Antonio Spurs fans following a Game 6 loss to Miami - could feel as though NBA officials didn't give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to foul calls, former Major League Baseball player Chipper Jones voiced his displeasure with the current NBA Finals through his Twitter account. Jones posted during Game 3 that the series might have already been decided since the Spurs only led by 6 after shaky officiating.

Jones isn't the only one who feels there may be some extracurricular activity going on behind the scenes concerning league officials and the games they cover. Former NBA official Tim Donaghy, who was relieved of his duties after he was caught gambling on various NBA contests in 2007, said in a 2009 interview with FOX News' Greta Van Susteren that the league does favor its superstars and that officials could sometimes change point spreads.

I think there was a situation where certain referees, in my mind, and it obviously proved successful, could change the point spread in an NBA game based on relationships by four or five points. I think NBA fans are very knowledgeable. And over the last 10 or 15 years, they know that a lot of unusual things have taken place. Referees are trained in the fact that, obviously, you don't want to be throwing the stars out of the game, or you don't want to be giving a star a foul that you can give to somebody else who's in that area. Obviously you don't want to give a Kobe Bryant or Shaquille O'Neal or LeBron James a foul that may be his second or third foul in the first quarter, to where he's going to have to go to the bench. I mean, it was openly discussed in meetings that, you know, people paid big dollars to see these stars on the floor.

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In addition to the disgraced official voicing his opinion on the matter of whether or not the NBA is rigged, many NBA fans feel the 1985 Draft was favored so that Georgetown superstar Patrick Ewing would land with the New York Knicks. With the No. 1 overall pick that year coming down to a random drawing between the Indiana Pacers and New York, commissioner Stern pulled an envelope out of the glass bowl and announced that Indiana won the No. 2 pick while New York claimed the top overall selection. Rumor has it that a corner of the Knicks' envelope was bent so that Stern would find it easy to locate in order to land NY the top pick.

WAS THE 1985 NBA DRAFT LOTTERY RIGGED?

According to the Business Insider, a large portion of NBA followers feel that in addition to the 1985 draft being tampered with, the 2003 draft - the draft that sent LeBron James to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers - was also pre-scripted. Another theory suggests that after LeBron departed Cleveland for the Miami Heat after the 2010 season, league officials swung the 2011 lottery draft pick in favor of the Cavaliers so they'd have the draft's best player available with the No. 1 overall selection.

While it is highly unlikely the National Basketball Association uses components other than the play of the athletes to achieve certain results, this topic of whether or not the league is rigged will certainly carry on for a long time because there will always be a single fan, fan base, player or coach who believes the league is corrupt because certain calls or outcomes didn't go their way.

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