Devin Booker was clearly livid at the officials tonight following the Suns’ 107-120 loss to the Thunder in Game 2 of their first-round series. The Suns guard spoke to the media after the defeat and did not hold back on calling out the officials for an incident that occurred in the first half.
“It’s definitely something that has to be looked at. I heard Caruso tell them to call the tech, and he ended up doing it. In my 11 years, I haven’t called a ref out by name, but James [Williams] was terrible tonight, through and through,” said Booker as he called out the official by name.
“It’s bad for the sport, bad for the integrity of the sport. People are going to start viewing this as the WWE if they’re not held responsible,” Booker further said in a cautious warning to the league about public perception.
“It’s hard, and it just feels disrespectful. I know I haven’t won a championship in this league, but I have been in it for 11 years now, so to get to this point to be treated like that, for me to even be saying something out loud, it’s bad.”
“It’s my first time in 11 years, but it’s needed. Whatever, I get fined for it, everybody can pull the clips and see where the frustration comes from,” said Booker in conclusion.
So during the first half, two incidents have arguably caused Booker’s frustration. In the first one, Booker was called for an offensive foul against Alex Caruso for making an ‘unnatural move’ to initiate contact. Moments later, when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did almost the same thing on the other end of the floor, the foul was called in the reigning MVP’s favor, which clearly bothered Booker.
Doris Burke is FRYING the refs for the difference in officiating between Devin Booker and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pic.twitter.com/fpjIT6YusN
— CantGuardBook (@CGBBURNER) April 23, 2026
Subsequently, Booker was trying to save the ball from going out of bounds when he accidentally hit Jalen Williams. The broadcast caught Alex Caruso signalling to the official that Booker deserves to be assessed a technical foul for that play.
The official surprisingly complied with the Thunder guard’s wishes and called the technical foul on the Suns star. To him, this seemed so bizarre that he thought if he were sitting in the audience, he would think it was scripted, just like the WWE is rumored to be.
Devin Booker receives a tech for saving this ball out of bounds on this play pic.twitter.com/OWGLaEZKg6
— Cage (@ridiculouscage) April 23, 2026
This is not the first time a member of the Suns franchise has criticized officials against the Thunder this season. Throughout the season, it was Devin Booker initially, then Jordan Ott, then, after Game 1, it was Jalen Green. Now it is Booker again who is complaining about the quality of officiating against the Thunder.
In my opinion, the Suns did not lose this game due to the quality of officiating but due to the lack of controlling the ball. They had 11 more turnovers as compared to the Thunder (21-10), which resulted in 13 more points for the Thunder (22-9). If the Suns had taken care of the ball much better, this game would have been much closer than it was.
However, that does not change the fact that the officials have often come under criticism from teams across the league, and the league office needs to look into this matter.
The Suns are now headed back home for Games 3 and 4 of this series in Phoenix on April 25 (Saturday) and April 27 (Monday). The Suns’ only hope is to turn this around in Game 3. If they end up losing Game 3, they will most likely be exiting the playoffs in the first round.
