NBA REFS

For the most part, the NBA isn't perfect, and most of it is largely due to bad refereeing around the league. Something has to change around Adam Silver's NBA.

To start off, let's talk about the Celtics vs Lakers game that took place in late January 2023. After an intense game filled with back and forth action, the Lakers had the ball with seconds left on the clock, and as they went on the offense to score the winning bucket, LeBron was caught by a huge foul from Tatum, who slammed his hand straight through James's forearm.

Ultimately, LeBron missed the layup to win the game, but at least the all-time player thought he would get a foul call, like most people watching the game. The referees though had something else in mind as they kept the play going until the buzzer beat. As a dumbfounded LeBron kneeled to the floor, the game went into OT, where the Celtics won 125-121.

Another time NBA refs showed their lack of integrity this season happened earlier this month, when the Raptors took on the Nuggets in an away game. Toronto was 1 point away with less than 30 seconds on the clock when they got called for a shooting foul on Poeltl. The call was a little dodgy, but nothing out of the ordinary when you have 2 meter tall players hustling under the basket.

The real issue happened when star player Scottie Barnes got a second technical foul and was ejected from the game. The call was absurd as Scottie visibly did nothing but talking to his teammates, wondering if the shooting foul was right. As of nowhere, referee Scott Foster gave Barnes the tech with little to no reason, leaving players and referees flabbergasted by the call. You know it's a terrible call from a ref when the other refs don't know to whom and what the technical foul was for.

The game ended in Denver's favor, as they went on to win the game. Unfortunately for the Raptors, they have lost all three games following the incident.

The NBA has always struggled with refereeing issues, ever since the Lakers vs Kings Finals fiasco in 2002. Other times in the 2000's where referees agreed to call more travels on Allen Iverson, and let's not forget when Joey Crawford ejected Tim Duncan from the bench for laughing. Less instances of bad calls have happened since then, but we seem to be in an era where referees seem to want to be the center of attention and become very defensive when it comes to players arguing.

Commissioner Adam Silver has been criticized again and again for not dealing with what seems to be a big issue in the league, for the players, organizations as a whole, and most importantly, the fans. Other leagues have adapted to such issues, like the Euroleague, who sanction or suspend referees for making bad calls, giving an incentive to give their best judgment and integrity, along with good communication.

A little known fact about refereeing in the NBA, is that officials actually have a way to track referee mistakes. This system consists of points, where points are not awarded every time an official makes a bad call. Having less points as a referee in the regular season allows the good ones to go on to the postseason, where salaries are more than double what the regular season offers, with Finals games going up to 30,000 USD.