The NBA today announced the list of 37 officials who earned spots to work the first round of the 2017 playoffs.
“We are extremely proud of these referees for their professionalism and dedication to their craft,” said Byron Spruell, NBA President, League Operations. “Our staff is made up of the best referees in the world, which means our playoff roster represents the best of the best.”
Playoff officials are selected by the NBA Referee Operations management team based on their performance throughout the season. Officials will be evaluated after each round of the playoffs to determine future advancement in the 2017 postseason.
“Our referees perform under great scrutiny and understand they are consistently being evaluated,” said Mike Bantom, NBA Executive Vice President, Referee Operations. “For any NBA official, advancing to the playoffs is a well-earned honor.”
The officials who comprise the 2017 playoff roster average more than 18 years of NBA experience and 12 years of playoff experience, and they total nearly 700 years of service.
Referees assigned to first-round games include the five active officials with the most playoff experience: Danny Crawford (290 postseason games), Ron Garretson (221), Ken Mauer (174), Mike Callahan (170) and Monty McCutchen (137).
This year’s playoff staff has seven officials (19%) with 20 or more years of playoff experience, highlighted by Crawford and Garretson, who will be officiating in the playoffs for the 29th season each.
In addition, Brent Barnaky and Matthew Boland are set to make their playoff debut as NBA officials.
The NBA playoffs begin on Saturday, April 15. Individual game assignments for referees are posted at NBA.com/official at approximately 9 a.m. ET each game day.
