Chris Paul is the latest superstar to voice his opinion on the players' rift with NBA officiating as of late. In particular, the Houston Rockets point guard called out Scott Foster following a technical foul call during the Rockets' 121-112 victory against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.
Foster, who has reffed for 24 years, has developed a notorious reputation for being one of the worst refs in the NBA. In 2016, a survey conducted by the Los Angeles Times even proclaimed him the absolute worst official in the league. Wednesday night, he made a questionable technical foul call against Paul with 4:52 left in the game.
"Yeah, Scott Foster at his finest," Paul told ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "You know what I mean? He just never fails."
The Rocket's superstar continued to speak on the current relationship between the players and refs, saying, "Some of them, you can [communicate] with. You've just gotta figure out who you can and you can't. I got a tech tonight. I'm over there with [referee Courtney Kirkland] saying, 'That's Scott, that's Scott,' and I got a tech. That's history there. He the man. That's who they pay to see."
If it wasn't clear, Paul was being sarcastic with the final words of his comment, insinuating that Foster was who the fans were paying to see at the arena, not players like himself. While Paul has not been the first high-caliber player to speak out this season, it's a little more meaningful coming from the president of the NBA Players' Association.
CP3 is just the latest in a string of superstars voicing their frustration. Over the past few weeks, names include LeBron James, Kristaps Porzingis, and Paul's fellow teammate James Harden to name a few. Most recently, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was fined $25,000 by the league for publicly criticizing the officials' in-game efforts, even telling The Athletic that they were "ruining the game."
According to a report by USA Today, the NBA is planning to hold a meeting between players and officials during the upcoming NBA All Star Weekend in Los Angeles in hopes of easing the rising tension before it reaches a point of no return. Hopefully, that will be a step in the right direction.
"We're going to figure it out," Paul says. "There's got to be a way that we have dialogue and stuff like that."
