NEW YORK—Saying allegations that veteran referee Tim Donaghy bet on and manipulated the games he officiated were "disappointing at best and potentially disturbing at worst," NBA commissioner David Stern admitted that the league had considered going so far as to fire Donaghy despite his years of experience as an NBA official. "He's on thin ice at the moment, that's for sure," said Stern, while also noting that Donaghy had worked a number of very close playoff games, experiences he believed said a lot about Donaghy's character. "At the very least, we'll have to move him into a relatively harmless position where he would have no overt influence on the NBA, such as, say, an assistant accounting director at NBA Financial." Stern went on to note that whatever disciplinary action was taken by the league would be chosen so as not to send the wrong message to the players, whom he believed should not be made to fear they might lose their jobs for the tiniest screw-up.