NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday

Moderators: bwgood77, bisme37, zimpy27, KingDavid, cupcakesnake, Domejandro, ken6199, infinite11285, Clav, Dirk

User avatar
K N U C K L E S
Senior
Posts: 739
And1: 401
Joined: Apr 16, 2024
         

NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#1 » by K N U C K L E S » Fri Oct 31, 2025 9:38 pm

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46794677/nba-referees-wear-headsets-games-beginning-saturday

They really don't need this since the scorer's table is just a few feet away. They really only need it in football since a scorer's table would be a 1 or 200 feet walk from most parts of the field. But they might-as-well. Getting on the scorer's table microphone to make an announcement looks rediculously 20th century anyway. You almost expect the ref to ask for a price check or a clean-up on aisle 5Image.

Something else they need to do is give the coaches a red flag to throw on the court to challenge a call like coaches do in the NFL. It would make things more entertaining. Maybe they would throw the flag in anger sometimes. :lol:
User avatar
Johnny Bball
RealGM
Posts: 55,114
And1: 59,554
Joined: Feb 01, 2015
 

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#2 » by Johnny Bball » Fri Oct 31, 2025 10:08 pm

It's primarily to hear the office and each other, not to speak to the crowd.
Memories
Analyst
Posts: 3,549
And1: 6,182
Joined: Feb 18, 2016

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#3 » by Memories » Fri Oct 31, 2025 11:00 pm

Since NBA refs are blind, they need people in the office that can actually see and watch the game to do the refs job.
meekrab
RealGM
Posts: 14,111
And1: 10,780
Joined: Dec 15, 2014

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#4 » by meekrab » Fri Oct 31, 2025 11:02 pm

Throwing **** on the court sounds like a great plan :roll:
AleksandarN
General Manager
Posts: 9,482
And1: 13,104
Joined: Aug 08, 2002

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#5 » by AleksandarN » Fri Oct 31, 2025 11:09 pm

That means Silver can direct the refs in real time.
User avatar
infinite11285
Forum Mod
Forum Mod
Posts: 22,183
And1: 27,094
Joined: Aug 12, 2008

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#6 » by infinite11285 » Fri Oct 31, 2025 11:16 pm

Great, now refs can miss calls in surround sound.
MrGoat
Head Coach
Posts: 6,232
And1: 7,987
Joined: Aug 14, 2019
 

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#7 » by MrGoat » Sat Nov 1, 2025 12:12 am

Now Vegas can directly tell them what to call
Free Luigi
User avatar
HMFFL
Global Mod
Global Mod
Posts: 54,778
And1: 10,721
Joined: Mar 10, 2004

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#8 » by HMFFL » Sat Nov 1, 2025 12:18 am

MrGoat wrote:Now Vegas can directly tell them what to call
Pretty much.
Just like with other things in the entertainment industry. 28 years in the business.
FarBeyondDriven
Analyst
Posts: 3,522
And1: 2,707
Joined: Aug 11, 2021

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#9 » by FarBeyondDriven » Sat Nov 1, 2025 1:51 am

gotta make it easier to get their orders from the league office. So laughable. What an absolute joke this league is now
LakersLegacy
Head Coach
Posts: 7,491
And1: 4,027
Joined: Apr 27, 2015
   

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#10 » by LakersLegacy » Sat Nov 1, 2025 4:15 am

The ref should be the camera person
have them wear cameras
Wallace_Wallace
Head Coach
Posts: 6,118
And1: 7,423
Joined: Jul 28, 2017
       

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#11 » by Wallace_Wallace » Sat Nov 1, 2025 4:59 am

Then they’re saying should definitely be public information.
JustBuzzin
RealGM
Posts: 16,401
And1: 13,830
Joined: Jun 10, 2023
 

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#12 » by JustBuzzin » Sat Nov 1, 2025 5:03 am

AleksandarN wrote:That means Silver can direct the refs in real time.

Seriously though I don't like this one bit.

Why are they trying to change something that has never been a issue. What do you need headphones and nobody can hear you conversations. Makes it seem like they trying to hide something.

I don't like the idea of refs having secret conversations while reffing a game.
LockoutSeason
Pro Prospect
Posts: 875
And1: 1,443
Joined: Feb 28, 2024

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#13 » by LockoutSeason » Sat Nov 1, 2025 5:17 am

The scorers table is like 2 steps away.
User avatar
Sofia
GOTB: Mean Girls
Posts: 30,484
And1: 34,359
Joined: Aug 03, 2008

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#14 » by Sofia » Sat Nov 1, 2025 6:05 am

I’ve reffed a sport where headsets are used. They are a good tool to use for communicating with fellow referees and live note sharing, i.e. “things are getting messy, we might need to tighten up a bit”. It did make me wonder why they weren’t used in basketball as they support communication with your fellow referees, and help improve the game through referee game management.

What I don’t understand in this proposal, is why the **** the league office is involved in anything more than being able to listen back to communications as a referee development and evidential tool where required. The league office should not be able to communicate to the referees, and I don’t think the scorebench should be in the loop either.
President of the Pharmcat Fanclub
President of the GreatWhiteStiff Fanclub
Free OKCFanSinceSGA
Reddyplayerone = my RealGM bae
User avatar
ImmortalD24
Assistant Coach
Posts: 4,333
And1: 751
Joined: Apr 11, 2007

Re: NBA Referees Wear Headsets During Games Beginning Saturday 

Post#15 » by ImmortalD24 » Sat Nov 1, 2025 6:38 am

I think it’s a way to deter referees fom conspiring with one another.. perhaps. Should be interesting to see increased timeouts when those things pop out every 5 minutes. It will not work imo.
Iwasawitness wrote:Dude, swap prime LeBron with Mitchell and this would be the best team LeBron ever played on.

Return to The General Board