Darius Garland makes wild referee proposal that’s likely not happening

The NBA officiating has always been a hot topic of discussion, but it’s gotten louder and louder over the last couple of years. As more and more players try to find angles and ways to “cheat” the system (ie. flopping, selling calls), fans and media have become overly critical of the officiating in the NBA.

LA Clippers guard Darius Garland believes there’s a next step the NBA needs to get to to clarify some of the issues or discrepancies with the officiating.

Garland went on Lonzo Ball’s podcast recently, “Ball in the Family,” where the former Cleveland Cavaliers teammates discussed a number of issues, including referees.

“I think refs need to like, they need to have a press conference after the game,” Garland said. “Cuz y’all, refs miss a lot. Back to [Lonzo], they are humans, but y’all miss a lot.”

“And they should get fined too?” someone asked.

“They should definitely get fined. No, it’s like 10 of y’all! Y’all got the earpieces, the bluetooth now.”

Refs should get fined pic.twitter.com/3X80Bew1Ms

— Ball In The Family Podcast (@ballinthefampod) June 3, 2026

Garland might not be aware, but in addition to the Last 2 Minute Report that the league publishes every time a game is within five points in the final two minutes, the NBA designates one reporter per contest to be the “pool reporter” who can request to ask officials questions after the game if anything questionable or controversial takes place.

During the NBA playoffs, the National Basketball Players Association released their list of Tier 1 referees, which are considered Elite and Top Performers. Those 26 referees were:

Ray Acosta, Brent Barnaky, Curtis Blair, Tony Brothers, Nick Buchert, John Butler, James Capers, Kevin Cutler, Eric Dalen Marc Davis, JB DeRosa, Mitchell Ervin, Jacyn Goble, Nate Green, Bill Kennedy, Courtney Kirkland, Karl Lane, Mark Lindsay, Tre Maddox, Ed Malloy, Phenizee Ransom, Dedric Taylor, Josh Tiven, James Williams, Sean Wright, and Zach Zarba.

The NBPA announced the findings of its annual Referee Player Survey.

These results served as the official player recommendations for referee assignments for the 2026 NBA Playoffs and should be a guide for the 2026 NBA Finals' selections. 

These referee were ranked in Tier 1,… pic.twitter.com/9UCzHqpyNd

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) May 13, 2026

While the NBA has their own internal ways to review NBA officials and the calls they make to ensure the best of the best are out there on the floor, they won’t share that with the public, nor do they necessarily need to.

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