Recently, a lot has been made of the officiating during NBA games. Rodney Mott’s atrocious call ejecting Austin Reaves from the Hornets game comes to mind as the most recent example. Fed up with all this, Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young has raised his voice against the officiating in the NBA following the Atlanta Hawks‘ loss to the Orlando Magic. But this could prove costly for him.
Trae believes that the referee wasn’t up to scratch tonight. And that led to the Magic receiving an unfair edge. He laments the fact that refs take things personally. “You just wish that you could get some refs that just don’t take things personally and understand that people grow. I’m not 19 anymore,” said Young.
Trae, on the officials:
“You just wish that you could get some refs that just don’t take things personally and understand that people grow. I’m not 19 anymore. I can communicate with these people (cont.)” pic.twitter.com/DwItT6t6MU
— Kevin Chouinard (@KLChouinard) February 21, 2025
Trae also revealed how communicating with some refs is simply a dead-end. “I feel like the refs are responsive for the most part, but then you get a few, a handful, like we got tonight.” Clearly tonight was one of those situations where Trae wasn’t able to get his message across to the referee. But his comments may lead to some form of punishment from the league for speaking out against the officiating. After all, he was fined $25,000 back in 2023 for confronting a referee and directing inappropriate language towards them.
And this is a novel challenge for the players moving forward. Now, we’re all used to players hounding the refs if they think the referee was mistaken in his call. However, what do you do when the referee is unapproachable and even communicating your grievances might get you a technical? Well, that’s what happened to Nikola Jokic once, and it seems Trae Young has also suffered similarly even if he didn’t receive a technical.
However, tonight’s game was different. It saw the Magic get 10 more free throws than the Hawks. Moreover, the Orlando Magic play a very physical game and the ref tonight let a lot of stuff slide. Calls that other refs would probably make. So Trae’s frustration is understandable, but what remedy does he propose for this?
Trae Young wants more accountability for NBA officials
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