Even worse, the attorney suggested the NBA might have pressured the government “into shutting down this prosecution to avoid the disclosure of information unrelated to Tim’s conduct.”

The NBA responded by calling the letter an assortment of lies and unfounded allegations, saying it was “the desperate act of a convicted felon who is hoping to avoid prison time.” But in a league that has always so feared being tainted by a gambling scandal that it refused to allow a team in Las Vegas, the mere suggestion that others might have been involved in fixing games shouldn’t be discounted so quickly.

Stern has already admitted other NBA officials broke league rules by gambling in casinos, though throwing the dice and throwing a game are two different things altogether. He says that was the extent of any wrongdoing the league knows about, though in his next breath he also says he would like to talk to Donaghy after he is sentenced in July for his misdeeds.

Against this backdrop comes Barkley’s disturbing failure to be held accountable for the losses he ran up at the Wynn resort last October that for some reason he decided not to pay. Whether Barkley was just being stubborn or whether the limits of his salary with the TNT network have caught up with his prodigious gambling habits may be known only to him.

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What is known is Stern has said nothing publicly about it, perhaps reasoning that Barkley is not an employee of the league nor is he involved in games on the court. But Barkley is talking about the league almost every night before a national audience, and TNT does pay the NBA millions of dollars for the rights to show its games.

Both the NBA’s eagerness to put the Donaghy affair behind it even while new questions are raised and its silence on Barkley are troubling, especially since a lot of casual fans already suspect when the home team wins almost every playoff game funny things are going on.

The possibility of the Lakers and the Celtics playing in the NBA Finals is exciting stuff. But Stern surely understands that keeping the public trust in the integrity of the game is far more important.

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