Fred VanVleet made a huge statement a couple of weeks ago when he openly went off on NBA referee Ben Taylor, openly saying he’ll accept whatever fine the NBA will lay on him.
He accused Taylor of targeting him in particular for technical fouls after the Raptors lost a game because of bad calls made by Taylor. The NBA fined VanVleet for his comments, but rumors of Taylor being demoted in his role have been exaggerated, according to the official NBA referees’ Twitter page.
This is categorically false. The schedule for the games referenced was released weeks in advance. Ben Taylor is a Part Time Crew Chief and frequently receives Referee assignments throughout the season. His positional assignments remained unchanged. https://t.co/BxRr7yY2k0
— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) March 24, 2023
Refereeing in the NBA is always controversial and the league has never once made referees face the consequences of bad calls. Just because VanVleet made a public stink about it, Taylor was not gonna get demoted. Especially when there are plenty of referees with alleged agendas against certain players (Scott Foster and Chris Paul) who never get punished.
The Referees Need To Be Held Accountable
The NBA is becoming increasingly dictated by the calls that referees make, with games swinging one way or the other based on what the refs do. We just saw the Phoenix Suns openly complain about the free throw parade that the Lakers were given when the two teams matched up yesterday.
They aren’t alone, as referee complaints are an almost daily occurrence this season. Be it Monty Williams criticizing the shots Giannis Antetokounmpo gets or Luka Doncic implying the referees have been paid off, there’s always something happening.
Trae Young proposed that the referees also be subjected to fines and suspensions for being incompetent, which seems to be a much-needed step to ensure transparency in the game. Referee motivations for each game seem very unclear and jeopardy for them needs to be added to avoid bad calls. Let’s see what the NBA does to rectify this if they even do anything.
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