Hey everyone! In my first ever Steemit post, I'm going to talk about 5 NBA secrets that they probably don't want you to know. I hope you enjoy!
1. Jalen Rose intentionally injured Kobe Bryant
(source: http://www.businessinsider.com/jalen-rose-intentionally-injured-kobe-bryant-during-the-2000-nba-finals-2012-9)
Way back in the year 2000, the Los Angeles Lakers were in their prime. Kobe was in superstar form, and still very young. The Lakers ended up making it to the finals, and had to play against the Indiana Pacers. At this point, the Jalen Rose and Kobe Bryant rivalry had not begun, and viewers were expecting a pretty standard finals series.
The viewers did not get what they expected. Right off the bat in game 1 of the finals, the Pacers came in guns blazing. Odds were stacked heavily against them, and they knew they had to play every card up their sleeve to have a shot at winning.
Only a few minutes into the first quarter, the game was already heating up. The Lakers were building a solid lead, and the Pacers had to stop them. As Kobe attempted a jump shot from the 3 point line, Jalen Rose jumped with him to try and block the shot. As they both came down from the jump, Rose extended his left leg behind Kobe's right, and pulled his leg back towards himself, causing Kobe to fall right on his leg. Initially, Kobe attempted to continue playing. He limped down the court (literally) for only a few more seconds before the Lakers called a time out and pulled him out of the game.
At the time, this was no big deal. It appeared to just be a simple mistake. However, after Rose retired in 2007, he went on to admit in an interview that this "mistake" was actually intentional. This game in particular was often referred to as the start of the Kobe vs. Jalen rivalry, and Kobe eventually got revenge when he scored 81 points in 2006 while playing against Jalen Rose.
2. Multiple NBA players have admitted to using drugs and drinking before and during games.
This one is probably not a surprise to many of us. Plenty of NBA players have been busted using drugs in their free time, however not many have been busted using drugs right before and even during games. Although this is not too common, there are quite a few incidents of this.
Metta World Peace, who most recently helped the Lakers win a championship in 2010, admitted in a 2009 interview with ESPN (source: http://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=4706474) that he "Used to drink Hennessy... at halftime." Although not confirmed, it is rumored that he was even drunk during the 2010 championship.
Stephen Jackson is yet another player who has confessed to doing a similar act. In a 2017 interview with ESPN, (source: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18588687/ex-nba-player-stephen-jackson-says-somes-smoked-marijuana-games) Jackson was quoted saying the following; "It's been some games where I smoked before the game and was on the bench after three minutes sitting on the sideline, 'Please calm down. This high has to calm down' -- I done shot three shots that went over the backboard, like, I'm going to be honest, like, 'Ahh, I gotta calm down.'"
Yet another player who has confessed to this is Chris Herren. Drafted by the Nuggets in '99, he was arguably the worst offender on this list. Most players who have done this were just drinking or smoking weed. Chris Herren was well beyond that point; in an interview with CNN, (source: https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/24/us/addiction-nba-chris-herren/index.html) Herren admits he struggled with his addiction to heroin and crystal meth throughout his NBA career. The most surprising part of this story is that prior to getting drafted, he was booted off of the Boston College team for testing positive for Cocaine, yet he still made it to the NBA.
3. Former NBA Referee Tim Donaghy admits that two other officials (not including himself) manipulated the outcome of a playoff series.
(source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_NBA_betting_scandal)
This is probably the most insane one on this list. For years viewers have been skeptical of the NBA's refs, and many have accused the NBA of rigging games. This is the first time that actual evidence has ever been provided to back up this claim.
In 2007, the FBI launched an investigation into the NBA due to allegations that referees were betting on games they officiated, then making calls to effect the outcome of the game. The only official to ever be charged for this was Tim Donaghy, however he went on to tell investigators that he was not acting alone, but refused to give any names. Donaghy told investigators that officials were told to intentionally not call technical fouls on certain players as they would potentially hurt ticket sales, and that officials would work together to avoid calling fouls (unless very blatant) on the teams they had bet on. Donaghy even stated that this occured in some NBA finals games.
Donaghy pleaded guilty to two charges related to this case, and was sentenced to 15 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release. Following this incident, the NBA's ratings took a huge hit.
4. Michael Jordan admits to being racist
(source: https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/michael-jordan-admits-racism-i-was-against-all-white-people-n98971)
Now this one is probably the most surprising one on this list.
In a 2014 article published by NBC, Jordan was quoted as saying he "considered himself a racist at the time" during his early NBA career. Jordan states that this racism towards white people stems from his upbringing; he was raised in an area of North Carolina where, at the time, the Ku Klux Klan had a very strong presence.
Jordan went on to say that throughout his NBA career, he went on to outgrow this feeling towards white people, and built strong bonds with his coaches and teammates that helped him move on from this.
5. Karl Malone fathered a child with a 13 year old girl
(source: http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/080507)
Now this one is just straight up disgusting.
Early into Karl Malone's NBA career, he had a fling with a girl significantly younger than himself. At the time, Malone was 20 years old; his soon-to-be baby momma was only 13 years old. Malone cut all contact with the girl after finding out she was pregnant, and tried to cover up the whole thing. Malone did not take into account that hiding an entire child is not very easy; people found out pretty quickly.
Malone refused to pay child support or even contact his son, even though he had made well over 100 million dollars throughout his NBA career. In the mid 90's, the grandparents of the girl took Malone to court, demanding that he pay $200 a week in child support. Apparently, this was just way too much for the multi-millionaire, and the judge ordered him to instead pay just $125 a week.
You thought it couldn't get any scummier? You're wrong. Malone refused to pay the weekly sum (which he probably makes in less than a minute on the court), and fought the case, stating that this was too much money for him, a multi-millionaire NBA star, to pay. He later reached an undisclosed settlement in court.
That's all I have for you guys today, I hope you enjoyed this article. Let me know if I should continue posting content like this, as it's my first article I've ever written. Hope you enjoyed!