There was a time when pro basketball was Barry Bonds’ and Bud Selig’s favorite sport.

Somehow, the NBA had found a way to inject itself with more scandals than a Brian McNamee needle could offer.

With the league’s integrity hanging in the balance, nine teams jostling for eight spots have given it a fresh start.

The first pool of spilled milk came last July, thanks to five-card-draw referee Tim Donaghy. NBA commissioner David Stern’s subsequent investigation found that all of the league’s 56 referees engaged in some form of gambling, which went against league rules. More than half said they placed bets in casinos.

Then came the Northwestern gust of negative PR winds. Former New York Knicks executive and NU alum Anucha Browne Sanders pocketed $11.6 million in a sexual harassment lawsuit against team president and coach Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden.

Officials and executives lacking credibility usually spells doom for money-making organizations. But leave it to the beasts of the West to provide Stern with something better to discuss than the National Betting Association or New York sex scandal.

With less than 10 games remaining, no team has punched a ticket to the Western Conference playoffs. Nine teams are separated by five and a half games, leaving coaches pointing to astronomical heights to explain unforeseen competition.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Denver Nuggets coach George Karl told reporters March 21. “I call it the Halley’s Comet year of the NBA. Once every 99 years something like this happens. Why I have to be a part of it, I want to know why.”

Karl could ask former rival Rudy Tomjanovich, as his 2000-01 Houston Rockets hold the infamous title of the best NBA team to miss the playoffs. That squad finished ninth in the West with 45 wins.

The Nuggets and Golden State Warriors both sat at the 45-win mark, with seven and eight games remaining, respectively. Just one win from both of those teams would give Hakeem Olajuwon and that Rockets team something to smile about.

Thanks to those tight standings, few are questioning the league’s integrity right now. Thanks to a simple solution in the form of competitive play from its athletes, the final 15 days of the regular season will be worth watching.