"Regarding Eric Lewis and the social media
posts, we are continuing to review the matter and he will not be
working the Finals," NBA spokesman Mike Bass said Thursday, per
ESPN.
The list of officials announced Thursday morning includes Scott
Foster, working the Finals for the 16th time. Tony Brothers and
Marc Davis were each chosen or the 12th time. Also picked were
Zach Zarba, John Goble, Ed Malloy, David Guthrie, Bill Kennedy,
Josh Tiven, Courtney Kirkland, James Williams and Kevin Scott.
"The pinnacle for an NBA official is to work the NBA Finals,"
league president of basketball operations Byron Spruell said in
a news release.
Lewis has worked more than 1,200 games in 19 seasons in the
league. His last assignment was on May 16 for Game 1 of the
Western Conference finals between the Nuggets and Los Angeles
Lakers.
The NBA is probing Lewis' connection to the Twitter account @CuttliffBlair,
which was brought to light by user @PabloEscoburner. The site
was created in November 2015 and, according to screengrabs, has
been a constant defender of Lewis and NBA officiating overall,
responding to negative tweets and highlighting Lewis' work.
NBA reporter Marc Stein first reported the investigation on
Friday, and ESPN and The Athletic confirmed through sources on
Sunday that the league is investigating Lewis and his link to
the account.
When PabloEscoburner first tweeted about the account and a
possible link to Lewis, CuttliffBlair replied that the account
was run by Lewis' older brother, Mark. PabloEscoburner then
showed the account as deleted later in the day, but as of Sunday
night the account was active.
Of note, the account followed six users: PabloEscoburner, four
NBA-related accounts (@RefAnalytics, @OfficialNBARefs, @NBA and
@NBAOfficial), and @MasonWBB -- the official account of George
Mason women's basketball. Eric Lewis' wife Vanessa Blair-Lewis
is the head coach at George Mason.
--Field Level Media
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