ImageThanks to the Turkish basketball website "Salsa Basket" a scandal saw the light of day. Turns out that Galatasaray cheated the Turkish Basketball Federation regarding the ban of their player Cemal Naga for five games. Read the full story.

Let's take it from the start. Galatasaray player Cemal Nalga got banned for 5 games after hitting an opposition player at a summer friendly game against Cibona Zagreb. After the first game of the Turkish League, Oyak Renault (who faced Galatasaray away and lost 68-63) made an objection to the Turkish Basketball Federation, claming that Nalga played against them, although he hadn’t completed his ban.

[It is worth to mention that Cemal Nalga was one of the best players of Galatasaray in that game scoring 14 points and dishing 6 assists]

After Oyak Renault’s objection, Galatasaray announced that Cemal had completed his punishment by not playing at 5 friendly games against Erdemir, Skyliners, Ludwigsburg, İstanbul BSB and Yesilyurt during the pre-season and  that the player had also played at three Turkish Cup games before he Turkish League opener against Oyak . After that the Turkish Basketball Federation accepted Galatasaray’s argument and declared that Oyak Renault’s application wasn’t valid.

But the saga didn't end there. Yesterday  (thanks to photos and videos from the summer friendly games) it was revealed that Cemal Nalga played against Skyliners and Ludwigsburg [two of the five ames he allegedly missed due to his ban] wearing  his teammate's  [Tufan Ersöz] jersey [number].

The proof… Nalga [normally wearing #15] playign with #7 jersey [Tufan Ersoz's jersey]

He even appeared on the game stats under the name “Tufan Ersoz” although Galatasaray claimed that he didn’t play at the games. in question.

The proof… the boxscore of the friendly game vs Skyliners… #7 Nalga appearing as "Ersoz"

Yesterday evening, Galatasaray Board called for an urgent meeting to discuss this matter and shortly they announced that all Galatasaray technical staff had been sacked. Now the Turkish Basketball Federation will look into the matter in depth again. It is alsmot certain that Cemal Nalga and Galatasaray staff will be sanctioned but it’s unknown how this event will effect the games that Galatasaray has played so far [where Cemal Nalga played] . Some even call for Galatasaray's relegation for trying to deceive the Turkish Basketball Federation.

Source: Salsa Basket