Investigation Reveals Bavetta Took Dive In All-Star Race With Barkley

Already reeling from this weekend's scandalous headlines implicating referee Tim Donaghy in a point-shaving racket involving the mafia, the NBA received another blow Saturday when an independent investigation revealed that longtime official Dick Bavetta took a dive in his All-Star weekend race against TNT personality Charles Barkley.

In the report released to the media, Bavetta apparently took out a large bet against himself in order to pay off debts to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). The veteran official had long been rumored to be a covert operative for the organization placed in the league in order to referee in a manner that would help restore the game "to the way it used to be." His orders were clear: "stop all the dadgum travelin', no showboatin', and no slam dunkin' the basketball." Despite the obvious difficulty built into the job, representatives of the organization felt that progress was being made. That is until Saturday.

NBA commissioner David Stern quickly began damage control, releasing the following statement.

"We would like to assure our fans that no amount of effort, time or personnel is being spared to assist in this investigation, to bring to justice an individual who has betrayed the most sacred trust in professional sports, and to take the necessary steps to protect against this ever happening again," Stern said. "We will have more to say at a press conference that will be scheduled for next week."

The incident is yet another black eye for the league in a season that has seen numerous on- and off-court controversies, and more turmoil may be on the way as Bavetta has hinted that he will likely reveal the names of other officials and players involved in the race-fixing scandal.