Lakers News: 2023 LA Sideline Nemesis Retires Amid Investigation

While being investigated by the NBA for having possible social media burner accounts, one former official that your Los Angeles Lakers are all too familiar with decided to call it a career in recent weeks.

Possibly due to his allegiances to the Boston Celtics (emphasis on "possibly"), now-former NBA ref Eric Lewis decided to retire in the middle of the investigation, suspiciously prompting the closure of his case and vindicating Lakers fans who suffered from his decisions.

In late May, the NBA opened an investigation into accusations that Lewis used a now-deleted Twitter burner account — under the name “blair cuttliff” — to defend himself and other officials against criticism from fans. NBA policy prohibits referees from publicly commenting on officiating without permission. Lewis had officiated in six NBA Finals games since 2019, including at least one each season, but was not assigned a game for the

Denver Nuggets-Miami Heat

championship series in June. Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed during a news conference at the time that

Lewis was not included in the Finals

because of the ongoing investigation.

via Chuck Schilken, LA Times

The timing of the choice is all too convenient, but many NBA fans, let alone those with purple and gold ties, would've known about Lewis' name had he not made a crucial mistake to end a game between Boston and LA in last year's regular season.

In a Saturday night prime time matchup against the long time rivals, it all came down to the final 30 seconds.

With possession of the ball, Lebron James drove the lane and was clearly struck on the arm by Jayson Tatum that shockingly didn't draw any whistle from Lewis or his two fellow refs.

The game instead went into overtime where the Lakers lost, prompting fans to do their own research on the crew for that night's game.

Though the reactions from Lebron and Patrick Beverley gave us memes that we won't forget, Lewis' favoritism for Boston may have cost him his job and given everyone in the league the last laugh on the situation.

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