Recently, a lot has been made of the officiating during NBA games. Rodney Mott’s atrocious call ejecting Austin Reaves from the Hornets game comes to our mind as the most recent example. Fed up with all this, Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young has raised his voice against the officiating in the NBA following the Atlanta Hawks‘ loss to the Orlando Magic. It’s about time someone stepped up to the official. But this could prove costly for him.

Trae believes the referee wasn’t up to scratch tonight. And that led to the Magic receiving an unfair edge. He laments the fact that refs take things personally. “You just wish that you could get some refs that just don’t take things personally and understand that people grow. I’m not 19 anymore,” said Young.

Trae also revealed how communicating with some refs is simply a dead-end. “I feel like the refs are responsive for the most part, but then you get a few, a handful like we got tonight.”

Clearly, tonight was one of those situations where Trae couldn’t get his message across to the referee. But his comments may lead to some form of punishment from the league for speaking out against the officiating. After all, he paid a $25,000 fine in 2023 for confronting a referee and directing inappropriate language towards them.

However, this is a novel challenge for the players moving forward. We’re all used to players hounding the refs if they think the referee was mistaken in his call. However, what do you do when the referee is unapproachable and even communicating your grievances might get you a technical? Well, that’s what happened to Nikola Jokic once, and it seems Trae Young has also suffered similarly even if he didn’t receive a technical.

Tonight’s game saw the Magic get 10 more free throws than the Hawks. Moreover, the Orlando Magic played a very physical game tonight and the refs let a lot of stuff slide. Those are calls that other refs would probably make. So Trae’s frustration is understandable, but what remedy does he propose?

Trae Young wants more accountability for NBA officials

While Trae Young does have a reputation for playing up the contact he receives on the floor to get fouls, that doesn’t discount his opinion on the referees. If anything, it adds to it because clearly, the officiating in the NBA is easily exploitable. But Trae has a solution for this issue.

“Refs should be held more accountable ($, suspensions, etc.) just like us…They shouldn’t get ‘We missed it’ passes,” said Young in an Instagram story. And don’t you think that’s a reasonable suggestion? After all, a team can trade a player if he underperforms. The organization fires a coach if his team loses too much.

But most referees go their entire careers without repercussions for their poor officiating. Rodney Mott and his history of horrible calls come to mind as the perfect example.

“Instead of just making a call & moving on, now the call will mean something to THEM as well. #Accountability🤷🏻‍♂,” he added later through a post on X. Again, Trae Young’s argument makes sense. If the referees got invested in the games as the players, they’d make fewer awful calls, right? Well, Adam Silver, President of the NBA, disagrees. He believes the current way of disciplining officials is just fine.

“We don’t publicize discipline for officials. We don’t think that will be appropriate. But their assignments are affected by the quality of their calls, whether or not they progress into the playoffs and then round by round is impacted by the accuracy of their calls and their demeanor on the floor,” said Silver.

So it seems the NBA officials do receive punishment for their transgressions. Just like the players on the court. We’re just not privy to the details. But don’t you think this just leads to more confusion, not to mention frustration amongst those upset by the officials’ lack of accountability?

After all, transparency is a huge part of accountability. So what do you think? Should the refs be liable for more public fines and punishment? Or is the current way working, just fine? Let us know!