As the dust settles on the euro-step and step-through debates, the 2024 season continues a long-standing conflict. Players and coaches have publicly criticized officiating at several points this year. Moreover, Chris Paul, just like his on-spot dimes, accused a particular referee, Scott Foster, of fostering (pun intended) a vendetta against him. His recent referee rumble saw Tony Brothers engaging in the feud, as Paul mockingly called him a TikToker during the game.

Now, less than two weeks after the late game ejection, Paul deploys another controversial move. Partnering with State Farm’s wit, he added a promotional post for his 8.3 million X followers. With an image of him in the Warriors jersey, his caption read, “No matter what call the ref makes, calling on @StateFarm is the right decision. #ad”. Along with taking a dig at the obvious, he also targeted the Warriors indirectly.

His Golden State Warriors squad is currently struggling to maintain a play-in record, and such a consequence is the last thing they would desire. This tweet holds purely commercial purposes. It advertises the brand through the comedic factor of Paul’s constant altercations with the referees. Subtly, it also helps Paul’s image. It displays Chris’ ability to joke about incidents and helps the fans see him in a different light.

Chris Paul’s beef with the referees this season

While Paul is nowhere near to Draymond Green‘s 4 ejections and a handful of heated exchanges with the refs, he has cultivated similar headlines twice this season. The first one came in his return to the Phoenix Suns in November 2023.

After being handed a blocking foul on Kevin Durant, Paul argued the nature of the call with Scott Foster. Their exchange heated up as Durant shot his first free throw, forcing Foster to tap him out of the game. In turn, Paul put on an intense display, calling Foster names before leaving the floor. With coach Steve Kerr questioning the validity of Chris’ ejection, the 38-year-old claimed that the referee bears apprehension towards him, citing, “It’s personal.”

Moreover, in his recent scuffle with Tony Brothers, Paul ignited the moment by calling the ref a “Tik-Tok’er” late in a losing game. The comment came in light of Tony’s video where the ref claimed he does not care much for basketball and belies himself to be “the judge, jury, prosecuting attorney, and defense attorney, everything.” 

However, Paul did not stop after garnering his first technical of the game. The guard followed up by asserting that Tony had too much power in the league, enabling the referee to hand him his second tech (automatic ejection) with less than 30 seconds left in the game.

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