Reports: NBA investigating whether ref ran burner account

The NBA is investigating a Twitter account and whether it could be a burner account of referee Eric Lewis, according to multiple media outlets.

The account, @CuttliffBlair, was brought to light by Twitter user @PabloEscoburner late last week. The site was created in November 2015 and, according to screengrabs posted by PabloEscoburner, 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 follows six accounts: PabloEscoburner, four NBArelated 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.

Among the players to speak out via Twitter after the news broke were LeBron James and former Lakers teammate Patrick Beverley. When Beverley was still on the Lakers earlier this season, he famously drew a technical foul when he grabbed a camera and showed Lewis an image of a call Beverley believed the referee missed against James.

“Laughed at me when I grabbed the camera yea aight,” Beverley tweeted on Saturday. James tweeted, “This Eric Lewis (expletive) true???”

According to ESPN and Stein, Eric Lewis could face discipline should he be found to have a connection to the burner account.

—Field Level Media