The young NBA season saw a breakout of clashes between officials and players, the point of contention being that they were handed a technical foul for a trivial reason—a staredown. There was no physicality involved, and they were just out there celebrating their wins through ‘stare downs’ at opponents who just happened to be before them, so why the foul?
As the incidents became widely discussed on social media platforms, a significant number of fans expressed their dissatisfaction with the officiating, with some even going so far as to concoct a conspiracy that the officials were betting on the other team, hence why they were giving dubious fouls to the opposing team.
Nonetheless, one thing was true at that point: the fans weren’t happy with ‘how soft’ the league has become.
And in the wake of all the chaos, a piece by Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports sprung just in time to explain the officials’ side.
According to the NBA’s head of referee development and training, Monty McCutchen, since they knew from history that any “taunting that’s left unchecked” results in altercations, this time they’re taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
He also added that the competition committee will continue to calibrate and determine the proper balance between what constitutes a good technical foul and taunting.
Star treatment for McCutchen
In the piece, McCutchen delved deeper into the ostracism they received in the past, one of them being that they gave out star treatment to famous players.
He goes on to elucidate that every time the public thinks that the referees are being lenient to star players, they get complaints, and every time they don’t and treat them equally as other players, they get outcries from the fans.
This season, though, it’s clear that the star treatment has been thrown out the window, as the two controversial fouls that sparked all the mayhem involved Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Timberwolves’ very own Anthony Edwards. In addition, this week also saw the ejection of Draymond Green twice and Klay Thompson once from the court after getting involved in mid-game scuffles.
Cover Photo: IG