The 20 Craziest NBA Scandals of All Time

20.Bryan Colangelo's Burner Account

KD wasn’t the first person to use a burner account to fire off hot takes about the NBA. In May 2018, Ben Detrick reported that then-Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo was connected to at least five anonymous Twitter accounts. Over the course of two years, Colangelo, or whoever was running these accounts, criticized Joel Embiid's conditioning, called out Jahlil Okafor’s play, blasted the previous GM Sam Hinkie, and panned coach Brett Brown’s decision-making.

More concerning, the Twitter account also disclosed nonpublic medical information about Sixers players and foretold the 2017 trade that would lead to the Sixers acquiring the top pick in the NBA Draft. The account @Enoughunknownso1 also made time to defend Colangelo’s sartorial decisions. “This is a normal collar. Move on, find a new slant,” the account tweeted after another user mocked Colangelo’s shirt.

The Sixers quickly announced they were investigating Colangelo. About a week later, after his wife admitted she had established and operated the accounts, Colangelo resigned in disgrace.—Peter A. Berry

19.Ja Morant Flexes for the 'Gram

Early in Ja Morant’s career, basketball analysts expected injuries would be his greatest obstacle to dominating the NBA—the Grizzlies point guard is a hyper athletic slasher who creates contact on his drives to the rim. The pundits were partially correct. Morant did struggle to stay healthy but it turned out that social media was a much larger threat to Morant’s career. In March 2023, Morant appeared on Instagram Live from inside a Denver nightclub, waving a gun while intoxicated. The NBA suspended him eight games without pay for “conduct detrimental to the league.” Unfortunately, Ja didn’t learn his lesson.

About two months later, another video of Morant brandishing a fireman circulated on social media. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had enough. “The potential for other young people to emulate Ja’s conduct is particularly concerning,” Silver said when announcing that Morant had been suspended for the first 25 games of the 2023-24 season. Without their star, the Grizzlies, who were a two-seed in 2022-23, started 6-19, effectively dooming their season before it even started.—Peter A. Berry

18.Oklahoma City Swipes the Sonics

When Seattle Supersonics owner Howard Schultz sold the team to an investment group led by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett for $350 million in 2006, one of the conditions of the deal was that the new owners would make a “good faith effort” not to move the team. With a rich history — the 1979 championship team; the Dale Ellis/Tom Chambers squads in the 1980s; the Gary Payton/Shawn Kemp team that made the 96 Finals — the Sonics were beloved in Seattle. But the new owners never intended to stick around.

Bennett had his out once Seattle voters and politicians refused to publicly fund a new $500 million arena. He then announced he was moving the team to Oklahoma City. There was one problem: the Sonics lease ran through 2010. The city then sued. On April 10, 2008, emails were published showing that Bennet’s group had not, in fact, made a good faith effort to keep the team in the Emerald City. “Is there any way to move here [to Oklahoma City] for next season or are we doomed to have another lame duck season in Seattle?” new co-owner Tom Ward emailed Bennett, who responded. “I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence that the new ownership group had violated its agreement with Schultz (and that Bennett had lied to David Stern), NBA owners approved the relocation 28-2 with a provision mandating a settlement with the city. A deal was soon reached. The ownership group coughed up $45 million, plus an additional $35 million if Seattle wasn’t granted an expansion team after five years. Spoiler alert: they were not and Seattle remains an NBA orphan.—Jerry L. Barrow

17.The Gold Club

In November 1999, strip club owner Steve Kaplan was indicted on racketeering charges that linked him to prostitution, credit-card fraud, money laundering, and police corruption. Prosecutors alleged that Kaplan was, in short, a clout chaser. Soon after he purchased the Gold Club in 1994, Kaplan allegedly hatched a plan to make his Buckhead strip club a magnet for celebrities and star athletes. How did he go about that? He urged his dancers to offer free lap dances and sex acts to the clientele.

The 2001 trial revealed that a slew of NBA stars had passed through the Gold Club during road trips to Atlanta. Dennis Rodman. Reggie Miller. John Starks. Patrick Ewing. Kaplan even brought dancers to the hotel where the Indiana Pacers were staying. None of the athletes were charged with criminal wrongdoing but the entire affair was sleazy, kind of gross and Kaplan was reported to have mob connections, which surely made David Stern gasp. In the end, Kaplan pled guilty to racketeering and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.—Peter A. Berry

16.Kawhi Leonard's (Alleged) No-Show Job

Kawhi Leonard was one of the most in-demand free agents in the summer of 2019 after bringing an NBA Championship to Toronto and winning Finals MVP. The Raptors, who could offer him the most money under salary cap rules, hoped to run it back with “The Claw,” while the Lakers looked to team him with LeBron and AD. During negotiations, Leonard and his uncle, Dennis Robertson, reportedly asked for more than just a max-contract. They wanted unlimited access to a private plane, a house, ownership in the team, and guaranteed off-court earnings from endorsements — requests that could be considered illegal circumventions of the salary cap. The Lakers turned down Kawhi and Uncle Dennis, reportedly laughing them out of the room.

The Clippers, however, won the Kawhi sweepstakes, signing him to a three-year $103 million deal to pair with the recently acquired Paul George. (The Clippers traded a boatload of assets including future MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to OKC for Pandemic P. Oops!) Leonard spent the next few seasons managing injuries and the Clippers flamed out in the postseason one year after the next. Business as usual, right? Not exactly. In September 2025, Pablo Torre (the Woodward and Bernstein of this scandal) reported that the Clippers might’ve complied with Uncle Dennis’s alleged demands.

In 2021, the Clippers signed a $300 million deal with the digital bank Aspiration to be a “first founding partner” of the Intuit Dome, the Clippers new home arena. Then, in April 2022 — around nine months after he resigned with the Clippers for four years, $176 million — Leonard agreed to a four-year $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration; a former Aspiration employee claimed it was a no-show job to work around the NBA’s salary cap. Aspiration filed for bankruptcy in March 2025, owing the Clippers roughly $30 million — almost the exact amount of the payment to Leonard. The NBA is currently investigating the allegations.—Jerry L. Barrow

15.The Timberwolves Risk It All. . . For Joe Smith

During the signing frenzy following the resolution of the NBA lockout in January 1999, one transaction stood out: free agent Joe Smith signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves for one year $1.75 million. Smith then re-signed with the Wolves for the 1999-2000 season for the bargain basement rate of $2.2 million. Strange things were afoot. About a year earlier, the forward turned down an extension from the Warriors that would’ve paid him over $40 million over four years. The math wasn’t mathing.

The scheme was simple enough: Smith would sign three one-year-deals with Minnesota to help skirt the salary cap. Eventually, the team would reward him in the summer of 2001 with an $86 million contract once they secured his Bird rights. The league caught on to the ruse after one of Smith’s agents sued their former partner leading to the discovery of documents incriminating Smith and the Wolves. The league then suspended Wolves GM Kevin McHale and owner Glen Taylor for one year, fined the team $3.5 million, and, most importantly, forced the team to forfeit their first-round draft picks from 2001 to 2005, dooming the franchise to a decade of mediocrity (aside from one surprise run to the Western Conference Finals in 2004). The NBA ultimately returned the team’s 2003 and 2005 picks but the initial punishment set the stage for superstar Kevin Garnett’s eventual trade to Boston.—Peter A. Berry

14.Isiah Thomas Sued for Sexual Harassment

One of the greatest point guards of all time, Zeke had a less successful career as a basketball executive. He’s blamed for running the Continental Basketball Association into the ground but that paled in comparison to his tenure as President of Basketball Operations for the New York Knicks. Under Thomas, the Knicks made silly trades, overpaid for mediocre free agents, and missed the playoffs over and over again. Somehow, his worst infraction occurred off the court.

In 2006, former Madison Square Garden executive Anucha Browne Sanders alleged that Thomas sexually harassed her and that MSG then fired her for complaining about it. Thomas, who was married with two kids, denied any wrongdoing but acknowledged trying to kiss Browne Sanders in December 2005. When she recoiled, he asked her, “No love today?” A jury of four women and three men found Thomas and MSG responsible, awarding Sanders $11 million in damages.—Jerry L. Barrow

13.Gilbert Arenas Gets the Strap

No Chill Gil has recently made waves as a social media and podcast troll but the retired sharpshooter has the ratchet resume to back up his trash talk. In 2009, Agent Zero channeled the Wizards’ old Washington Bullets moniker when he brought guns into the team’s locker room after a card game with teammate Javaris Crittenton went awry. Arenas’ trash talk quickly escalated into physical threats and a few days later he rolled into the team’s facility with two unloaded guns — a gold Desert Eagle and a Smith & Wesson .500 — to, in his words, call Crittenton’s bluff. The third-year pro wasn’t bluffing.

In response, Crittenton pulled out a loaded gun, causing teammates to scatter like Marvel heroes after the Thanos snap. Both players were suspended for the remainder of the 2009-10 season and pled guilty to misdemeanor gun charges. Arenas was ordered to serve two years’ probation, while Crittenton, who wouldn’t play another game in the league, received a year’s probation.

“They said, ‘Don’t get caught up in Gilbert Arenas’ antics,’ but he made his threats to my life,” Crittenton said years later. “You keep talking about fighting, I play with guns.” He wasn’t kidding. In April 2015, Crittenton pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a weapon and aggrieved assault with a firearm in connection with the death of Jullian Jones, a mother of four. He was released from prison in April 2023.—Jerry L. Barrow

12.Kyrie's COVID-19 Chronicles

Rudy Gobert may be Patient Zero for COVID-19 in the NBA but Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets eventually became the league’s poster child for its handling (or mishandling) of the pandemic. After the Bubble experiment in the summer of 2020, the league was eager to get back to business with some guardrails in place. But each city had different rules and mandates about reopening and Irving just so happened to play in New York City which required private-sector employees of NY-based business to be vaccinated.

Like many Americans, Irving refused to get vaccinated. With Irving unable to suit up for home games, the Nets suspended him in October 2021. But two months later they began allowing Irving to play on the road. Irving remained a part-time player until March 2022 when the city carved out an exemption for athletes and performers.

Around a year later, Irving was suspended for eight games after posting the link to an antisemitic documentary on social media. Eventually, the 8-time All-Star was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, bringing an end to his contentious time in Brooklyn.—Jerry L. Barrow

11.Michael Jordan Gambles With His Rep

In May 1993, the New York Times reported that on the night before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Michael Jordan had been spotted in the baccarat pit at the Bally’s Grand Casino in Atlantic City at around 2:30 a.m. The next night he shot 12-for-32 in a 96-91 loss that put the Bulls down 2-0 against the Knicks.

Jordan’s gambling habits were already well known; in 1992 he admitted under oath to writing a $57,000 cashier’s check to money launderer Slim Bouler to settle a gambling debt. But the story snowballed. A few days after Game 2, a San Diego businessman named Richard Esquinas went public with claims that Jordan owed him $100,000 in golf gambling debts on debts that once reached over $1 million. Jordan admitted that he bet on golf with Esquinas but called the reported amount “preposterous.”

“I do not have a gambling problem, I enjoy gambling,” Jordan said. “If I had a problem, I’d be starving. I’d be hawking this watch, my championship rings, I would sell my house. My wife would have left me.”

Jordan abruptly retired in October 1993 citing a loss of passion for the game after his father’s recent murder. But a statement he made during his retirement press conference fed speculation that his exit from the game was punitive. When asked if he would consider returning to the NBA, Jordan said, “Five years down the line, if the urge comes back, if the Bulls will have me, if David Stern lets me back in the league, I may come back.” Jordan, of course, returned, and won three more NBA Championships.—Jerry L. Barrow

10.Jontay Porter Bets the Under

Professional and college sports had their fair share of gambling scandals even before the Supreme Court effectively legalized sports gambling in 2018 with their ruling in Murphy v. the NCAA. The Chicago White Sox threw the 1919 World Series. The 1950 CCNY Beavers were implicated in a point shaving scandal. Pete Rose bet on his own baseball games. But SCOTUS’ ruling opened the door to sports gambling entering the mainstream — and a slew of betting apps flooding the market.

In March 2024, ESPN reported that Jontay Porter, a bench player on the Toronto Raptors, was being investigated for “irregularities” in bets involving his own statistics. The NBA eventually learned that he’d been using his friend’s phone to bet on his own games and had manipulated the outcome of bets involving the over/under of his points or rebounds by faking injuries. Porter was banned from the NBA for life and later pled guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. He likely faces a 41–51-month jail sentence when sentenced on December 18. According to a report in The Athletic, the NBA instituted the “Jontay Porter rule,” which stipulates that “no ‘under’ bets will be offered on any player on either a two-way or 10-day contract.”—Peter A. Berry

9.David Stern Vetoes the Chris Paul Trade for "Basketball Reasons"

NBA Commissioner David Stern was the Grinch Who Stole Christmas from Lakers fans in December 2011. In the wake of the NBA lockout’s resolution, it appeared that Los Angeles had finalized a three-way trade that would send Pau Gasol to Houston, Lamar Odom to New Orleans, and bring Chris Paul to L.A. to form, perhaps, the greatest backcourt of all time with Kobe Bryant.

While Paul was getting fitted for Purple and Gold, other team owners (including Mark Cuban and Dan Gilbert) wailed to commissioner David Stern that the trade would form a super-team in Los Angeles while also granting the team salary cap relief. (That’s called good GM’ing!) Under normal circumstances, the commissioner wouldn’t have the power to stop a perfectly legal transaction. But the league owned the Hornets at the time, making Stern the team’s governing partner. He soon vetoed the trade, citing “basketball reasons” for the decision.

Paul ended up in Los Angeles, albeit for the Clippers, where he played six seasons and never made a conference final.—Jerry L. Barrow

8.The Cocaine Circus of the 1970s and 80s

When Michael Jordan joked about the Chicago Bulls being a “travelling cocaine circus” when he arrived in the mid-1980s, it was a funny anecdote in The Last Dance. But it was no laughing matter in the moment. Jordan was right: The league was awash in the white stuff since the 1970s and the fallout was devastating. The league’s reputation suffered. More importantly, careers were destroyed and lives were ruined.

The list is long: George Gervin. David Thompson. Michael Ray Richardson. Spencer Haywood. John Lucas. Roy Tarpley. The tipping point was the death of future superstar Len Bias, who died of a cocaine overdose two days after the Boston Celtics selected him with the second pick of the 1986 NBA Draft. The tragedy shook the NBA—and also Congress. Four months after Bias’s death, President Ronald Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act into law, which set mandatory minimum sentences for drug convictions resulting in death or serious injury.—Peter A. Berry

7.Latrell Sprewell Strangles His Coach

With a 1-14 record, the Golden State Warriors were choking away their season before Latrell Sprewell attempted to murder head coach P.J. Carlesimo. The Warriors star player and Carlesino, a my-way-or-the-highway disciplinarian, had been at odds over insignificant issues like Sprewell’s reluctance to adhere to the team’s dress code; Sprewell reportedly offered to pay the $500-per-home-game fine upfront for wearing sweats (roughly $20,000 for the season) so that Carlesimo could “leave [him] the f**k alone.”

The situation boiled over at a team practice on December 1, 1997, after Carlesimo yelled at Sprewell to make crisper passes. “Put a little mustard on it,” the coach barked. Sprewell charged at Carlesimo and choked him for approximately 7-10 seconds before being pulled away. Sprewell then showered, changed, and returned 20 minutes later to attack Carlesimo again. The Warriors initially terminated Sprewell’s contract but an arbitrator overturned the decision. Still, Sprewell was suspended for the remainder of the 1997-98 season and lost $6 million in salary and his endorsement deal with Converse. Sprewell would later be immortalized in song by Nature on “Banned From T.V.” (“I kick street tales / Choking ni**as like I’m Sprewell”) and get traded to the Knicks.—Jerry L. Barrow

6.Kermit Washington Knocks Out Rudy T

The NBA’s image problem of the late 1970s and early 1980s could best be defined by an on-court skirmish that went way beyond what was considered “way too far.” During a scrum in a December 9, 1977, game between the Rockets and Lakers, Los Angeles forward Kermit Washington turned and hit Houston forward Rudy Tomjanovich with a short right, knocking him unconscious. The punch left Tomjanovich with a fractured skull, broken jaw, and broken nose, and with spinal fluid leaking from his brain. Washington was suspended 60 days (or 26 games), the longest suspension in NBA history at the time.

The one-punch knockout was replayed ad nauseum on the news and even on Saturday Night Live and became one of the biggest news stories around. It was difficult for Washington to accept what he saw on the footage. “Hollywood couldn’t have made an uglier monster,” he said years later. “I could sort of see myself in there, but it wasn’t me.”

Tomjanovich eventually returned to the league the following season and regained his All-Star form. In 1979 a federal court ruled that the Lakers parent company owed him $3.2 million; they’d later settle. On a macro level, the punch spurred the league to hire more in-game security and get strict about on-court violence.—Peter A. Berry

5.Darryl Morey's International Incident

In October 2019, then-Houston Rockets general manager Darryl Morey tweeted in support of antigovernment protesters in Hong Kong: “Fight for Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.” In a vacuum, Morey might have been praised for showing support to a pro-democracy movement. But the NBA is very much in partnership with China, a country with 1.4 billion potential NBA fans and whose government is very set on maintaining the status quo.

The blowback was swift: The Chinese government halted airings of NBA preseason games and pulled Rockets merch from stores. Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta distanced the team from Morey’s tweet and an NBA spokesman issued a statement saying Morey’s views “have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable.” Even LeBron James weighed in stating that Morey “wasn’t educated on the situation at hand.” China hawks and free speech advocates from both sides of the political aisle then took aim at the NBA (and LeBron) for their response to Morey’s remarks. The Chinese government even reportedly demanded that Adam Silver fire Morey, which thankfully he didn’t. In the end, Morey apologized but not before the NBA reportedly lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to the backlash.—Peter A. Berry

4.Donald Sterling Gets Clipped

In April 2014, TMZ released audio of Clippers owner Donald Sterling having a spirited conversation with his assistant and reported mistress V. Stiviano; the 31-year-old later described her role in Sterling’s life as his “right-hand arm—man, [his] everything, his confidant, his best friend, his silly rabbit.” In the recordings, the 80-year-old billionaire chastised Stiviano for the crimes of associating with Black people, posting photos on her Instagram page of her alongside Black people, and bringing Black people—including Lakers legend Magic Johnson! —to Clippers’ games. “It bothers me a lot that you have to broadcast that you’re associating with Black people,” Sterling whined. “Do you have to?”

Sterling’s racism was common knowledge around the NBA. The Justice Department sued the former slum lord in 2003 for housing discrimination and Clippers GM Elgin Baylor once accused Sterling of running the team with a “Southern plantation- type structure.” He also creepily fetishized his players, sometimes bringing women friends into the locker room to gawk at half-naked Clippers. “Look at those beautiful Black bodies,” he said, reportedly.

In response to the public outcry and the Clippers’ loss of sponsors, newly appointed NBA Commissioner Adam Silver moved quickly. He immediately banned Sterling for life and fined him $2.5 million. In August 2014, Sterling’s wife Shelly sold the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion. Sterling challenged the sale in court but must’ve been pleased with the ROI. He’d paid approximately $12 million for the Clippers in 1981.—Jerry L. Barrow

3.The Kobe Bryant Trial

On July 1, 2003, a 19-year-old woman accused Kobe Bryant of raping her in his Edwards, Colorado hotel room. Bryant had checked into The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera, where his accuser worked as a concierge, a night earlier, before a knee surgery scheduled in nearby Vail. When police initially questioned the married Lakers star, he denied having sex with his accuser. But he quickly conceded to it, although he insisted that the encounter was consensual. On July 18, he was formally charged with sexual assault.

Bryant resumed his career with the Lakers as if nothing had happened. But there was nothing normal about the Lakers’ 2003-04 season—and not because he was now teammates with Gary Payton and Karl Malone. Bryant sometimes flew back and forth to Colorado for legal proceedings, occasionally not arriving for games in Los Angeles until just before tip-off. Eventually, prosecutors dropped the case after his accuser showed an unwillingness to testify. But the case against Bryant was the biggest celebrity scandal since the O.J. Simpson trial a decade earlier.—Thomas Golianopoulos

2.The Malice at the Palace

After losing to the eventual champion Detroit Pistons in the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals, the Indiana Pacers had something to prove. They quickly got a shot at revenge during a November 19 game in Detroit at the Palace of Auburn Hills. With less than a minute left, the Pacers held a decisive 97-82 lead when Ron Artest, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, committed a hard foul on Ben Wallace. The Pistons center then shoved Artest, causing benches to clear.

For once in his career, Artest tried deescalating the situation. He retreated from confrontation and laid down on the scorer’s table. For a moment there, it appeared that calm had prevailed. Then a soft drink landed on Artest, bringing the Queensbridge out of him. Artest and Stephen Jackson rushed into the stands throwing punches. Some fans dispersed, while others advanced onto the court, where they were met with more punches from Pacers players. For their role in what came to be known as the Malice at the Palace, Stephen Jackson was suspended 30 games and Artest was given the longest suspension in NBA history (86 games). The brawl effectively ended the Pacers season but also led to commissioner David Stern cracking down on physical play and instituting a dress code in an attempt to soften the league’s image.—Jerry L. Barrow

1.Tim Donaghy's Quick Fix

In 2007, the FBI learned that the veteran NBA referee Tim Donaghy had been giving inside information to a gambling ring that would then place bets on the games Donaghy worked, with Donaghy receiving a $2000 fee if his bets hit. In all, the FBI found that Donaghy bet on as many as 40 games he officiated each season during the mid-2000s. Donaghy, who bragged to gamblers that he could sway the score six points each way, had certain go-to tactics. He liked calling an illegal defense early in the first quarter to influence a team’s defensive strategy for the rest of the game. Donaghy would also sometimes whistle one team’s star player for two quick fouls after halftime to limit their availability. He was eventually sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for his role in the scandal.

But Donaghy didn’t go quietly. In a court filing, the disgraced ref claimed that two other referees had manipulated Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings to ensure a Game 7, an event which would be in the “NBA’s interest.” David Stern called the accusations a desperate act of a convicted felon but the numbers were damning: the Lakers attempted 18 more free throws than the Kings in the fourth quarter of their 106-102 win.

Tim Donaghy didn’t have Kobe Bryant’s star power. His scandal didn’t receive wall-to-wall media coverage like the Malice at the Palace. Senators weren’t asked to weigh in on him like with Darryl Morey’s China tweet. But no scandal damaged the integrity of the NBA more than this one—fans on NBA Twitter still cite the crooked ref whenever a controversial call impacts the outcome of a game. And that’s why Tim Donaghy sits atop the list.—Peter A. Berry