They don’t need to outright fix anything. The refs can just not call stuff for certain teams, or at certain times and they can get pretty much any result they want this way, while still having plausible deniability.
No players or coaches need to be “in on it” at all. Players and coaches will always take what they’re given from the refs, especially in the playoffs.
Nobody is going to be like “Hey guys, we’re getting away with a lot of holding, interference, hooking, and slashing. We’d better clean up our game; it would be wrong to win this way.”
In reality it’s like “Lol, the refs aren’t calling shit. f*** yeah boys.”
No words need to even be said. And this clearly does happen. The league’s agenda is always going to be more revenue and overall growth, so whatever outcome is best for that, is what they will try to facilitate. In the last few decades, this has meant teams winning in non-traditional markets.
Are they outright rigging the games for these teams? No. They don’t need to, like I said. But will they turn a blind eye to certain shit at certain times? Absolutely. Pretending otherwise is incredibly naive and idealistic.