NBA Shares Surprise News on Referee Scott Foster After Knicks-Heat Game

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There is no NBA referee more capable of drawing the ire of NBA fans and players alike quite like Scott Foster. He has been an NBA official for three decades and, in that span, he has managed to find a beef with just about every fan base in the league.

Foster is best known for a long-running feud with star point guard Chris Paul, and for his close association with disgraced referee Tim Donaghy, with whom he shared more than 100 phone calls at the height of Donaghy’s game-fixing scandal.

Fans have also dubbed Foster “The Extender” because Foster’s crew in playoff series typically find a way to make sure a team that is near elimination has a chance to come back.

There have been other players–James Harden for one–who have had Foster issues, but the feud with Paul even drew a public statement from commissioner Adam Silver.

“The way we’ve tried to handle that, is talk to both of them and say, ‘The expectation is that you’re going to be professional,’” Silver said back in 2023. “And deal privately with the two of them and say guys, ‘Whatever the bad blood is between you two, you don’t have to be friends, but you got to both go out and do your jobs.’ So that’s my expectation moving forward.”

Feb 4, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NBA referee Scott Foster (48) runs on the court in the first quarter of a game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images

NBA referee Scott Foster (48)

David Richard-Imagn Images

With that in mind, then, there won’t be too many fans who are weeping for Foster, though he did suffer a strange twist on Monday night, when he was refereeing the Knicks’ 116-95 win over Miami.

As Fred Katz of The Athletic reported, “Scott Foster exited last night’s Knicks-Heat game early with a calf injury, NBA says. Knicks and Heat played the fourth quarter with only two referees. Haven’t received word on a timetable.”