NFL brought us deflategate, but someone smarter than I asked the question whether ball tampering happens in the NBA and, if so, is there any data to show it?
Turns out Phil Jackass has admitted to doing just that:
"We'd try to take some air out of the ball. You see, on the ball it says something like 'inflate to 7 to 9 pounds.' We'd all carry pins and take the air out to deaden the ball.
It also helped our offense because we were a team that liked to pass the ball without dribbling it, so it didn't matter how much air was in the ball.