Devin Booker calls out referee James Williams after Game 2 loss against the Thunder originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Phoenix Suns lost Game 2 to the Oklahoma City Thunder, which makes the series between the two teams 2-0 in favor of the defending champions. Unfortunately, it appears to be a convincing result because the Suns continue to struggle.
While the Suns are struggling, the players have some gripes with what is happening. Superstar guard Devin Booker believes that the referees are not doing a good job of calling the game down the middle.
In the third quarter of Game 2, people saw when Alex Caruso asked the referees to call a technical foul on Booker. That set Booker off because the referees caved in and assessed a technical on the Suns' superstar.
Evidently, Booker was unhappy with the referees because that was not something he had seen in his 11 years in the league. That is why he made sure to make some callouts during his fiery post-game press conference alongside Jalen Green.
MORE: Jalen Green calls out the referees for not being fair to the Phoenix Suns
He even name-checked one particular referee, James Williams, who is also a multi-year veteran of the NBA officiating crew. Unfortunately, Williams drew Booker's ire because of what happened with that technical foul fiasco.
"It's definitely something that has to be looked into. I heard Caruso tell them to call the tech, and he ended up doing it. In my 11 years, I haven't called a ref out by name, but James was terrible tonight, through and through," Booker said after Game 2.
"It's bad for the sport, bad for the integrity of the sport. People are going to start viewing this as the WWE if they're not held responsible."
Aside from that, Booker also made sure to point out that people should watch the clips to see what happened. He is valid with his concerns about the technical foul because most people online agree that it was not a good call.
Moving forward, this should be something that must be dealt with because a star player like this puts a spotlight on a bad part of the league. While Booker will not automatically get favorable calls, he will likely experience a fairer officiating crew.
How Dillon Brooks got an extra $1 million after the 2025-26 season
Dillon Brooks admits that beating the Warriors was always on his mind
Jordan Ott provides the reasoning with choosing Jordan Goodwin over Collin Gilespie
The Phoenix Suns' three-point record is now in the hands of Collin Gillespie
Jordan Ott loves to make the Phoenix Suns play physical defense