NBA Fans Are Convinced A Ref Had A Burner Account He Used To Defend Himself

The NBA has an uncanny ability to produce an impressive amount of drama on a regular basis, which includes a number of instances where some high-profile figures have been caught using a burner account online.

It’s hard to think of a more notable example than former 76ers front office executive Bryan Colangelo, who found himself out of a job in 2018 after internet sleuths discovered his wife had multiple Twitter burners she’d harnessed to defend her husband while criticizing multiple players on the team.

That unfolded less than a year after Kevin Durant was forced to apologize after he forgot to switch to the burner he admitted to using while firing a shot at Thunder coach Billy Donovan, and by now, you’d think people associated with the league would go out of their way in an attempt to cover their digital track.

However, it appears one referee failed to do exactly that.

On Thursday, NBA Twitter was whipped into a frenzy courtesy of some online detectives who deduced an account masquerading as someone named “Blair Cuttliff” actually belonged to Eric Lewis, who has spent 18 seasons working as an NBA ref.

While there’s no definitive proof the account actually belongs to Lewis, it’s not a huge stretch to assume that’s the case when you consider he almost exclusively tweeted about himself and followed a grand total of five accounts, which included four related to the NBA in addition to the one for the women’s college basketball team at George Mason University—a program that is coached by his wife.

The account was created in 2015. Been on a war mission toward the end of this season and through the postseason. It has zero (0) followers and hilariously only follows these 5 accounts. 😭😭😭 his wife is the head coach for George Mason WBB.

Log out, bro. Lmao @CuttliffBlair pic.twitter.com/zuROvuVX4P

— Pablo Escobarner (blue check) (@PabloEscoburner) May 25, 2023

After the account in question went viral, it was temporarily deactivated before the owner made his grand return and claimed to be Lewis’ brother Mark.

At the end of the day, this isn’t really a major story, as the account didn’t post anything particularly incendiary or controversial.

However, that doesn’t make it any less entertaining.