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Adam Silver has to deal with plenty of headaches on a regular basis, which includes a fairly high-profile feud between an NBA player and a referee thanks to Chris Paul and Scott Foster. Now, the commissioner has addressed what the league told both parties as they continue to butt heads.
If you’re not familiar with the beef in question, it allegedly stems from an incident where Scott Foster used some unnecessarily harsh language to chastise Chris Paul‘s son while he was playing in the tunnel the official used to leave a game during CP3’s time with the Clippers.
Foster has subsequently been accused of going out of his way to hold that incident against the guard, who has gone 3–17 in playoff games where the ref was on the floor (which includes 15 contests where his team was favored to win).
Now, you could argue that’s a coincidence, but most fans have a hard time believing that’s the case.
Earlier this season, Foster sent Paul to the locker room following a verbal altercation before the latter revealed he’d previously had a sitdown with the ref in the hopes of hashing out their differences, although it doesn’t appear they were able to put things behind them.
Now, Adam Silver has shed some light on how the NBA has attempted to handle the issue, as he shared the message he sent to both men during a recent interview on SiriusXM.
“[Chris Paul and NBA Referee Scott Foster] don’t have to be friends but you both have to go out and do your jobs”.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver explains to @TermineRadio & @JumpShot8 his expectations with Paul and Foster moving forward
Full Interview: https://t.co/B3xtNlJthk pic.twitter.com/NdU9iYMUb3
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) December 6, 2023
Here’s what he had to say:
“You have two veterans who are the best at what they do.
Scott is one of the most respected NBA officials—one of the highest-rated NBA officials, which is why he referees in our Finals games. And of course, Chris, the track record speaks for itself.
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…’Whatever the bad blood is between you two, you don’t have to be friends, but you gotta both go out and do your jobs.’
So that’s my expectation going forward.”
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if that ends up being the case.