As more players have expressed their disappointment about the NBA officials, players association will provide hotline for them to complain over the phone. This decision is in accordance to the new CBA agreement which has been ratified last Friday, Dec. 23.
In the newly ratified collective bargaining agreement, players are now able to file complaints regarding the referees who officiate the game as reported by
Sporting News. Previously, the NBA released a report on the officials once a year without mentioning the referees’ names. The new agreement stated that report will be submitted once a month with the names of officials to be mentioned.
In addition to that, the player association will open a hotline to call in to critique the referees in their game. The hotline allow them the report the bad call and also if the players think the official botch the call. This hotline will allow NBA to be more pro-active in evaluating their officials and providing a reliable monthly report on the officials.
Two latest games which involved bad calls from game officials happened during the game between Golden State Warriors at the Cleveland Cavaliers on Christmas and the Indiana Pacers against Chicago Bulls one day later. Kevin Durant and Paul George were the players who experienced many bad calls from the referees which caused their team to lose the game.
In the game against Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, Dec.25, Durant was shown to be tripped by Richard Jefferson that made him fall in the final seconds of the game. But officials didn’t make any calls. After the game Durant hinted that he didn’t fall on his own.
As the NBA reviewed the game, the league determined the officials made two mistakes in the final seconds of the game as reported by CBS Sports. Although the new agreement doesn’t guarantee the immediate change to quality of the officials, but it puts the checks and balances system for officiating crews.
Watch behind the scene of the NBA officiating crews from NBA official channel below:
