Chris Paul has another referee that he is beefing with.
The Golden State Warriors veteran Paul was ejected from Friday’s 123-111 loss to the Indiana Pacers after picking up two late technical fouls. Referee Tony Brothers gave Paul a tech with 22.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter for jawing at him as the game was already decided. Brothers then hit Paul with a second T for continuing to talk, resulting in an ejection with a mere six seconds left to play.
Here is the full sequence.
In about 30 seconds of game time, Chris Paul did the following:
– Airballed an open three.
– Got a technical foul.
– Got a second technical (and ejected) as the Pacers were dribbling out the clock.This sequence will probably not be part of his Hall of Fame reel. pic.twitter.com/Dvd0uqSoNM
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) March 23, 2024
Paul threw shade at Brothers in a post to his Instagram Story after the game. He posted a TikTok clip of Brothers saying on a podcast that he didn’t even really like basketball but just liked the power of being “the judge, the jury, prosecuting attorney, defense attorney.”
Chris Paul posts to his IG story after being ejected from the game by Tony Brothers with 6 seconds left in the 4Q. pic.twitter.com/lQ9eeQBX7d
— TheWarriorsTalk (@TheWarriorsTalk) March 23, 2024
During his postgame interview on Friday, Paul said that Brothers gave him the first technical foul for calling him a “TikToker” and the second one for saying that Brothers had “too much power.” That was likely what Paul was referencing by posting the TikTok clip to Instagram afterwards.
Why did Tony brothers give Chris Paul two technical fouls?
Oh, man. Old Tony he's talking to me. I talked back. I called him a TikToker, and I got a tech. The second one I just said, "That's too much powers." He gave me another tech. pic.twitter.com/m3RplB4mF1
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 23, 2024
For context, the clip of Brothers came from an interview with Florida Vipers Academy. Brothers was saying that he actually wanted to be a judge but that he ended up becoming an NBA referee instead and felt that it was a full circle moment. You can watch the full clip here.
As for Paul, Scott Foster is probably still his clear Referee Enemy No. 1. But Brothers seems to be quickly rising up the power rankings, especially since Brothers has had multiple feuds with other NBA players as well.
