Bill Spooner, a famous former NBA referee, has accused Chris Paul (Golden State Warriors) of being the “biggest a**hole” in the NBA.
Spooner‘s words in The New York Times come in a report that reviewed the career of Scott Foster, a veteran referee who has been in the NBA since 1994 and has a long-standing feud with Paul.
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Foster (57), who has an impressive resume as the referee with the most games officiated in the NBA Finals (24), has been singled out in recent years by officials and players for his arrogance, unwillingness to listen and tendency to incite conflict rather than defuse it.
Foster’s spat with Magic Johnson: It was like Kennedy was assassinated all over again
Of the NBA’s 74 referees, Foster is one of the most popular, rising to fame by ejecting Magic Johnson in a televised game that cost the Los Angeles Lakers star a three-game suspension and a 10,000-dollar fine.
“It was like Kennedy got assassinated again,” Foster said to The NY Times.
“It was brutal. That was probably the first time people heard my name … but it’s not like I said ‘Thank god, that put me on the map.’ The last thing I wanted was to be the lead on SportsCenter and CNN news.”
Actor Jack Nicholson went so far as to threaten Foster with a chokehold for that decision.
Referee Scott Foster’s controversy with Chris Paul
But the player with whom Scott Foster has had the worst relationship is with Chris Paul, especially since 2015 when the referee began to be accused of turning the games he refereed against Paul into “personal” ones.
Spooner, a retired NBA referee with 32 years of experience, has supported Foster in his controversy with Chris Paul in the same report.
“I’m going to tell you, and I know you are recording me, but I get asked all the time: ‘Who are some of the tough guys, some of the bad guys?’ And when I tell them that Chris Paul, in my 32 years in the league, was one of the biggest a-holes I ever dealt with, they say, ‘Not Rasheed Wallace … or da-da-da?’ Nope. Nothing like (Paul),” Spooner said.
“And they are like, ‘Oh, he seems like such a nice guy.’ And I say, ‘Yeah, he’s a great image cultivator.'”
