Referees are usually pretty good at getting out of the way of things. A basketball court is only so big, and there are 10 pretty huge humans on it playing the sport at an ultra-high, ultra-focused level, so the refs have to figure out how to put themselves in a position to see everything while simultaneously being cognizant of the fact that players might not see them.
Guys running into referees isn’t especially common, although we got a pretty high-profile meeting of the minds on Saturday evening during Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. At one point, LeBron James tried to turn up court to spark a fastbreak, but he ran into a problem: Scott Foster. The referee was standing on the court, and when James turned and started sprinting, the two collided.
— sportsvids99 (@sportsvids991) May 21, 2023
It turns out that this actually led to Foster bleeding a little bit, as James presumably collided with him while he had his whistle in his mouth which caused a cut.
SCOTT FOSTER BLOODIED pic.twitter.com/QDcZw3jxBf
— Fastbreak Breakfast (@fastbreakbreak) May 21, 2023
LeBron ran into Scott Foster who had to be treated by the medical staff for a cut on his mouth
pic.twitter.com/fhbwGaexyT
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 21, 2023
Foster had to go get tended to for a second, but he was able to stay in the game and keep doing referee things. As for James, we assume that he got to live out an NBA player’s dream by crashing into Scott Foster and not getting in trouble.