Chris Paul Called ‘One Of The Biggest ‘A——‘ In The NBA By Ex-Referee

Scott Foster was on call for game two of the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday, but he is in the news for reasons unrelated to basketball.

Ex-NBA referee Bill Spooner, who stood on the sidelines for over 32 years, defended Foster on a podcast with The Athletic while disparaging Warriors PG Chris Paul.

“And when I tell them that Chris Paul, in my 32 years in the league, was one of the biggest assholes I ever dealt with, they say, ‘Not Rasheed Wallace … or da-da-da?’ Nope. Nothing like [Paul],” Spooner exclaimed to The Athletic and further reported on by CBS Sports.

Foster and Paul’s checkered past created tense moments during their respective careers. Their last meeting on the court ended with the “Point God” taking an early shower after two quick technical fouls from the ref led to Paul’s dismissal in the second quarter. After the game, Paul called the feud between the two “personal” and alleged an incident between the referee and his son some years ago.

Foster receives the most backlash of any zebra in the league. The NBA trusts him as he calls the most important games on the league calendar, but that gives him a more prominent spotlight to be targeted. Across the internet, fans have put together YouTube videos with Foster’s missed calls to highlight their disdain. Some watchers refer to him as “The Extender” as conspiracy theorists believe Foster intentionally makes bad calls that benefit a team trailing in the series.

Paul completed his first season with the Warriors in 2023-2024, which did not meet the expectations of the future Hall-of-Famer. He came off the bench and averaged the fewest minutes in his 19-year career while only playing 58 games, also the fewest since he entered the league in 2005-2006. Golden State missed out on the playoffs for the first time since 2021.