NBA referee scandal.

Murray Weiss of the New York Post dropped a bombshell this morning.

“THE FBI is investigating an NBA referee who allegedly was betting on basketball games – including ones he was officiating during the past two seasons – as part of an organized-crime probe in the Big Apple, The Post has learned. … The investigation, which began more than a year ago, is zeroing in on blockbuster allegations that the referee was making calls that affected the point spread to guarantee that he — and the hoods who had their hooks in him — cashed in on large bets.”

This is a crushing blow to the NBA, a league whose officiating problems have arguably been worse than its image problems. People will not tune out in droves because Allen Iverson wears a tattoo on his arm; however, trust that people will stop watching if they know that a referee is purposefully altering the outcome of games.

Somewhere, Roger Goodell is breathing a sigh of relief.

The action of one referee will reflect on all the other referees and onto the league as a whole. The NBA has always been the target of conspiracy theorists, and games with dubious endings such as Game 6 of the 2002 Lakers/Kings series or Game 5 of the 2006 Heat/Mavericks series always give new fodder to those who believe the games are fixed.

What can the NBA do to stop talks of conspiracy? Nothing retroactively; however, the league can create new rules to reinstate at least some credibility in its embattled referees. Give the coaches three challenges per game, including an extra challenge for the fourth quarter, with each challenge to be reviewed by the back-up official who is present at each game. Skip Bayless of ESPN suggested that the NBA may have to “start fresh” with a new crop of referees, which may not be a terrible idea at this point.

No matter what the remedy, this problem cannot be fixed immediately. The NBA will have to deal with the people who already hate the league, conspiracy theorists who already think the games are fixed, and players who already think the referees are against them. David Stern could only wish for a dogfighting scandal right now.