The 1981-82 New York Knicks had a 33-49 record and finished in 5th place in the NBAs Atlantic Division. By all accounts they were a bad team, and in the annals of history have long been forgotten, but if newly revealed allegations made by the FBI and reported by Gary Buiso of the New York Post some of those losses may have been done intentionally in order to pay off debts and give favours to a drug dealer who was supplying players with cocaine.
The revelations come from old FBI documents from Brian Tuohy’s new book, “Larceny Games: Sports Gambling, Game Fixing and the FBI.” The documents, which are redacted so that they do not name the players involved but the documents do make it clear that there were at least three different players involved.
From Buiso:
Coked-up Knicks players fixed games as a favor to their drug dealer — who bet big bucks against the anemic New York squad, FBI informants claimed during the 1981-82 season.
The feds probed whether three Knicks, reportedly “heavy users of cocaine,” and their supplier, “one of the largest dealers on the East Coast,” shaved points, according to FBI documents.
The investigation into the team continued through at least the 1986 season, but there was never enough evidence to bring an arrest and have a hope of conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Knicks best player was guard Micheal Ray Richardson who averaged nearly 18 points per game. He was also kicked out of the NBA and banned for life in 1986 following his third positive test for cocaine.
Richardson denied the report to the post:
“Hell no!” Richardson, 58 and living in Texas, told The Post when asked about the point-shaving allegations. “We never did anything like that.”
The FBI did note that on 6 of the 7 occassions that the dealer placed heavy bets against the Knicks on the point spread in games that season he was successful. They certainly felt that there was point shaving going on, and that the players themselves may have even been betting against themselves.
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