National Basketball Association players were shocked by the revelation that a former senior referee was being investigated by federal authorities for gambling on games that he officiated.

The story was broken by the New York Post on Friday and confirmed by the NBA.

"It's a hard pill to swallow," Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant said from Las Vegas, where Team USA was preparing for the upcoming FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament. "But it's just the reality of the matter. As basketball players, all we can do is go out and play hard and leave it all on the floor.

"The commissioner, I'm sure he's going to take care of it."

Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James, also in Las Vegas, echoed Bryant's view.

"I think the NBA is going to take care of it," James said. "We'll see what happens. The NBA is going over everything that might be going on with the allegations. As a player, we'll see what happens. We don't want to get involved in it."

Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony told the Los Angeles Times that the report had planted seeds of doubt in his mind about games he had played in.

"It's shocking," he said. "It puts thoughts in your head. You start thinking about things that you probably didn't think about before. I'm pretty sure they're going to get to the bottom of it, though."

According to the Post reports, Donaghy had built up debts from gambling problems, which then made him a target for organized crime groups who wanted him to influence games.

"If this is true, it is a tragedy of enormous proportion, not just for himself and his family, but for our industry," Barry Mano, president of the National Association of Sports Officials, told the Los Angeles Times. "It cannot be understated what a terrible thing this could end up being."

NBA commissioner David Stern said the league was working with the FBI on the probe, and vowed to get to the bottom of an affair that could call the integrity of the entire league into question.

"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."

(China Daily via AFP July 23, 2007)