Chris Paul and Scott Foster. Credits: Imago

Chris Paul saw himself being ejected by long-term nemesis and NBA referee Scott Foster in the recent loss against the Phoenix Suns. When handed a technical initially, Paul did not stop talking and ended up receiving another technical which resulted in a direct ejection. Regardless, Paul has previously also commented, just like this time around, that there is a “history” between himself and the ref.

Advertisement

Data compiled by The Athletic proves this, to some extent. Paul has a 2-17 Playoff record in games that Foster has officiated in, along with an overall -132 differential in the 19 games in question.

This is along with a definitive long history of controversial calls in games that Foster has officiated in and also included Chris Paul. According to Tom The Finder, while there have been innumerable incidents when Foster was guilty of handing out calls against Paul’s teams, the NBA may be at a crossroads.

Paul himself has talked about the situation, multiple times in the past, in detail. Before Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks, Paul had claimed that he himself did not want to point out the obvious. However, he went on to talk about how his own team had 16 free throws in Game 3, while Giannis Antetokounmpo alone had 17, according to CBS.

Tom The Finder claimed that while the problematic history is obvious, the NBA will have to accept Foster’s bias and inability to be neutral if they decide to bar him from games involving CP3.

After all, Foster is a veteran himself, having officiated in the league for 28 seasons. The 68-year-old has been involved in 1,617 regular-season games and 226 Playoff games already, and any action against him will result in question marks over his history of controversial calls.

Chris Paul was fuming after ejection against the Phoenix Suns

The fact that Paul was ejected in a game against his former team is bound to anger him further. CP3 claimed after the game that while he needed to do a better job of staying on the court, Foster had been involved in a personal situation with him some years ago. The situation apparently involved Paul’s son as well and led to a meeting that involved the league as well.

Steve Kerr, Paul’s current coach, also ended up receiving a technical after his attempt to defend his player. Kerr claimed after the game that he did not think Paul deserved to be ejected, and should have been given a single technical.

Finally, the Warriors’ camp also saw Stephen Curry emerge with a defense of his new teammate. Steph said that when both the referee and the player are engaged in a conversation, the matter should stay there, and not spill out into technicals.

Curry said that while he did not want to talk about the specific history involving the two, he let his feelings known to Foster as well, only after the game.