Here is what Mr. Ostler wrote:
On Saturday night, I learned that Dwight Howard spits on the ball.
Every time a Warriors player went to the line to shoot two, after the first free-throw try, the Orlando Magic’s massive center asked the ref for the ball, spit on it and flipped it back to the ref. Seriously.
“I’m just blowing on it,” Howard fibbed with a smile when I asked him about it after the game. “I’m putting a spell on them.”
Then this video came out of some Warriors fans shooting Howard appearing to spit on the ball after a free throw:
It really is tough to tell, he also allegedly did it during his recent match-up against the Los Angeles Clippers as well.
I scoured the NBA rulebooks for any ruling about players manipulating the ball at the free throw line but couldn't find anything relevant.
In the grand schema of things, I really doubt that if he spitting on the ball that it is making a huge affect on the game since the player at the foul line is already transfering his sweat and whatever is one his hands at the time.
However, I will not be surprised if we have an incident regarding "Spit-Gate"
(Courtesy of Guyism)