NBA in talks with famous tracking system provider over help for referees after LeBron James’ ‘replay center’ rant

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has revealed that they are working to introduce new technology to help referees.

Public criticism of officiating in any sport, let alone the NBA, is nothing new.

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However, it came to the forefront in April via one of the game's all-time greats, LeBron James, when he called out the work of the replay center in a viral post-game rant.

After his Los Angeles Lakers lost 101-99 to the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round, James tore into that night's officiating.

More specifically, he took issue with a noncall on Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. after he appeared to his D'Angelo Russell in the face on a layup.

A subsequent foul call on Porter wound up being overturned following a challenge by Nuggets head coach Michael Malone.

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"I don't understand what's going on in the replay center, to be honest," James said.

"D'Lo clearly gets hit in the face on the drive.

"What the f**k do we have a replay center... it doesn't make sense. It makes no sense. It bothers me."

Speaking to reporters ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks, Silver revealed that the league is working on new ways to help officials.

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"It's where we should be able to make the most progress," he admitted.

"As I've said before, you're always going to have human error in the case of referees.

"It doesn't mean we can't continue to do a better job training officials.

"But when it comes to technology, again, it's one of the things we've been talking to the Players Association a lot about and the Referees Association, too, and I'm thinking once the season ends this year, maybe we even put together a task force of the constituent groups."

To be specific, Silver explained that the league has continued to work together with Hawk-Eye, a company known for its work in tennis, soccer, and cricket among others.

The brand uses "optical tracking, vision-processing, video review, and creative graphic technologies" to assist in officiating, as per their website.

This could afford the NBA the opportunity to take "objective calls" out of the hands of officials.

For example, Silver cited such situations as, "Which one of the hundred fingers on the floor touched the ball last at that time."

He admitted that "it's harder than I understood it to be," however, eventually he believes "technology will solve that."

It is worth noting, however, that Hawk-Eye's collaboration with the NBA is nothing new.

The two sides have worked together since 2019, with the NBA announcing in 2023 that they had agreed on a long-term partnership.

The goal was "to deploy Hawk-Eye's 3D optical tracking technology which will, for the first time, enable NBA tracking data to capture the game in real-time in three dimensions, including the movement of each player on the court and the ball, all at sub-second latency.

"This technology will provide the opportunity to enhance officiating by increasing the accuracy of calls and the speed of gameplay, including, in future seasons, through automated calls on plays such as out-of-bounds and goaltending."

As for issues pertaining to the replay center, such as seemingly excessively long delays, Silver did concede that such situations are "frustrating at times for all of us."

But in response to this, he pointed out that replay officials often find themselves having to scan "16, 18 different camera views."

"And while you think after 20 seconds you've seen six angles, you're ready to stop, then you're in the back of your head thinking it may be that 15th angle is going to show something more conclusively than the other ones," Silver noted.

"So you sit there and you sit there and you sit there.

"It's frustrating and it's frustrating for the players.

"I think it just makes the point that as much as we want to get every call right, it has to be balanced against a game of flow and stoppage.

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"It's why we justify having more replay at the end of the game than in the middle of the game."

While this may be the case, again Silver admitted that they "can do better," adding that technological advancements should help.

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