NBPA releases player ratings of officials and no, Scott Foster isn't in the bottom tier

Scott Foster is apparently a divisive figure among NBA players.

(Jason Miller via Getty Images)

The NBPA also shared that Zach Zarba was ranked as the No. 1 ref overall in the NBA, with players from every team ranking him at least among the Top 12. Kevin Cutler also ranked highly, getting a No. 1 ranking from six different teams.

From the NBPA:

“I think officiating comes down to the person. I don’t think you can reform the calls themselves—people are human and they’re going to make mistakes,” said NBPA First Vice President Grant Williams at the State of the Game roundtable. “But the best officials in the league, according to the players, are the great communicators; the ones who understand when they’ve made a mistake. As long as you’re calling a game consistently, guys are willing to adapt. It’s about having control of the game while also respecting the players and their different personalities.”

The highest standard deviation belongs to perhaps the most maligned official in the NBA, Scott Foster. He was reportedly ranked as the top official by one team and had enough support to land in Tier 2.

Those results are somewhat at odds with Foster’s reputation, with his name coming up more than a few times over the years. His feud with the recently retired Chris Paul was part of NBA lore, and his “The Extender” nickname is well-known enough to receive a 4,000-word Reddit analysis last year.

But more than a few players think he’s somewhere between OK and good. There are also a pair of Tier 1 officials who have had their own recent incidents, with Tony Brothers getting called “completely unprofessional” by Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch and Devin Booker going after James Williams enough to get fined $35,000.

One other notable trend in the ratings is the fact that no women are in Tier 1 and only two — Sha’Rae Mitchell and Ashley Moyer-Gleich — are in Tier 2, compared to six in Tier 3. Che Flores, who is non-binary, is also in Tier 3. The NBPA partially addressed that, noting Moyer-Gleich and Mitchell reached Tier 2 because they “both received positive feedback from the players regarding improvement in their overall performance.”