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Future Hall of Famer Chris Paul surely has plenty of fans.
But former NBA referee Bill Spooner is not one of them.
“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, who retired in 2020 following 32 seasons, said, per Jason Quick of The Athletic.
“And they are like, ‘Oh, he seems like such a nice guy.’ And I say, ‘Yeah, he’s a great image cultivator.'”
The comments came in a profile of NBA referee Scott Foster, who is notably connected to Paul.
As Jack Maloney of CBS Sports detailed following Scott’s decision to eject Paul from a November game, there is a long history between the two figures. The point guard even said at the time that “it’s personal. We had a situation some years ago, and it’s personal. The league knows, everybody knows.”
He also lost 13 consecutive playoff games officiated by Foster.
The streak reached a point that after the 11th straight loss, which happened during the 2021 NBA Finals when Paul was with the Phoenix Suns, he said, “if I was a betting man—11 games in a row.”
But Spooner jumped to Foster’s defense, pointing out that he is someone the NBA frequently turns to when it needs someone to officiate a marquee game.
The comments also suggest Paul likely isn’t popular among officials even outside of Foster. He has certainly never hesitated to argue with officials during games or make his opinions known in postgame press conferences, and it has probably irritated some officials over the course of his long career.
Paul also just finished his 19th season, so most officials in the league have surely worked games involving him a number of times. That is plenty of back-and-forths after calls, and the 12-time All-Star might not have too many friends in the officiating community.
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