The Chris Paul-Scott Foster story added another chapter last week when the controversial referee ejected CP3 during a game between the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns.
After the game, Paul said that the thing between him and Scott goes back several years ago and is personal.
In the aftermath of the incident, former Washington Wizards All-Star Gilbert Arenas said that the NBA should not let Foster officiate in games where Chris is involved because CP3 is so emotionally invested in their beef that he can’t focus on playing the game.
“The NBA is bad,” Gil said. “You cannot have Scott Foster ref Chris Paul’s game.
We are hip to it. Everyone knows it and the fact that now, this is emotional abuse.
When that man walks and sees Scott, what the fu** do you think happens in that game? He’s done. The team is done. The arena is done.”
Gil’s Arena co-host Josiah Johnson mentioned a social media post from NBA analyst Tom Haberstroh.
In that Tweet, Haberstroh noted that CP3’s teams were favored in 15 out of 20 games that Foster officiated.
Those squads went 3-17 during that stretch, losing by an average margin of 11 points per game.
Josiah also explained what CP3 meant when he said his beef with Foster has something to do with his son.
According to Johnson, there was an incident years ago where little Chris was playing in the tunnel, and Scott honked at the kid while yelling expletives at him.
Chris found out, and of course, as any father would, he wanted to put his hands on the ref.
Arenas jumped in the conversation and said that in the aftermath of that incident, the NBA held meetings with Paul and Foster, then decided not to let him referee his games anymore.
But things changed when CP3’s Suns faced the Bucks in the 2021 NBA Finals, and Scott officiated Games 3 and 6.
Since then, the infamous referee has been allowed to referee Paul’s games, including last week’s Dubs-Suns game.
Paul was looking forward to playing against his former team last Wednesday, but his night ended quickly when Scott blew two quick technicals on him after the two exchanged words.
It’s unclear what Chris said that irked Foster, but he called the referee a ‘bit**’ after he got his second technical foul.
“They wanna keep pretending that there’s nothing going on,” Agent Zero added.
“You want to pretend that nothing’s going on, so if you penalize him, then it shows Chris Paul has been right.
We all know now. We don’t give a fu** what you do.
When we see Scott there, we already know they lost. They have no chance.
We all see it to this point where just don’t have him ref games anymore. That’s the easiest thing to do.”
Gil does have a point. CP3 can’t play straight every time he sees Scott Foster.
You can argue that he has to put personal matters on the side as he is a highly paid professional.
But when the beef includes family, including one’s children, you can’t blame the Point God. And unless the NBA keeps Foster off CP’s games, this will repeat itself.
