Virus absences force use of G League refs

The virus outbreak hasn’t just sent NBA teams looking for help from the G League. The NBA refereeing corps has had to do the same.

A trio of G League officials — Tyler Mirkovich, Clare Aubry and Pat O’connell — were assigned games Friday, the NBA debuts for all three. It was the first time the NBA had to call up G League officials to work games this season.

Mirkovich was assigned Phoenix at Boston, Aubry got Atlanta at Cleveland and O’connell was picked for New York at Oklahoma City.

“I think the whole league is in a concerned place,” said Monty Mccutchen, the former official who is now an NBA executive overseeing all referee matters. “We want our league to be healthy, and we want the players to feel safe and healthy. We want coaches and staffs to feel health and safety is a priority and the same is true for referees.”

None of the three G League refs called up Friday has even worked an NBA preseason game. But with about one-third of the league’s referees unable to work right now, mostly because of coronavirus-related reasons and a few because of injury, the NBA had no choice but to seek help.

“We have some people out with health and safety protocols. That’s no secret,” Mccutchen said. “And we’re using some people from the G League that we have a lot of confidence in that can give us this temporary coverage that we’re in need of.”

The NBA began Friday with about 120 players in various stages of the protocols. Also sidelined: eight head coaches — the latest being Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, who entered protocols Friday in Toronto — and dozens of other staffers, including assistant coaches, athletic trainers, media relations staff and more.

The league has a 97% vaccination rate among players, 100% among coaches, and at least two-thirds of the league has received a booster shot. The NBA has postponed 11 games in recent weeks, while often changing its protocols — the latest moves designed to potentially get players who test positive back on the floor more quickly than has been the case.

About 100 players from the G League have been signed to NBA deals in recent weeks as teams have needed to fill rosters because of all the virus-related problems. Players and coaches around the league have applauded those players getting their chances.

“It’s hard to get here. This is hard,” Washington guard Bradley Beal said. “I think a lot of people have it kind of misconstrued. They think a lot of stuff that we do is easy, they think getting to the league is easy. It is not, man. And then you have so many guys in the G who are deserving of being up here. These guys actually deserve spots and a lot of them just don’t have that opportunity. A lot of guys are fortunate to be able to have opportunities and a lot of them are taking advantage of it.”