It seems that the NBA has taken notice of the recent events surrounding one of their referees named Eric Lewis. As some fans might be aware, Lewis came under a significant amount of scrutiny after it was revealed that he actively used a Twitter burner account and defended his on-court actions to fans.
It has been less than a week since this news broke out and it even drew the attention of NBA stars like LeBron James. Since the league prides itself on having a clean reputation, it was only a matter of time before it decided to take action. Let us take a closer look and find out more about this situation.
Eric Lewis has officiated NBA Finals games in the past
Whenever controversial information becomes public, it gains more weight when involving someone with a high reputation. Lewis is a senior NBA referee with almost two decades worth of officiating experience. In fact, he has even refereed important NBA Finals games in 2020 and 2021.
Once his actions on social media became clear, fans quickly did some research and found out that his entire family was fans of the Boston Celtics. Moreover, the team seemed to win most of the time when he was a part of the officiating crew. Lewis was also on the court during the Lakers vs Celtics game earlier this season. We all remember how that game ended with LeBron reacting emotionally to a no-call on a foul by Jayson Tatum.
In any case, the league decided to investigate this issue internally. It has now been announced that Eric Lewis will not be a part of the officiating crew for the 2023 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets. While he doesn’t seem to have any personal agenda against either team, the league made it clear that he wasn’t going to be involved.
Eric Lewis will not ref in the NBA Finals due to his Twitter burner account investigation. pic.twitter.com/iwwWEvFOav
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) June 1, 2023
Perhaps that is a good move. After all, the Miami Heat eliminated the Boston Celtics in a dramatic 7 game series. Now that he has been exposed, Lewis would have been condemned by fans if he gave out foul calls that were unfavorable to the Miami Heat. Thankfully, that will not be the case this time and we look forward to a fair and clean Finals series.