In the wake of Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet’s postgame tirade directed at NBA official Ben Taylor, the referee has reportedly been demoted in recent games he’s worked.
As explained by Tom Haberstroh on Tuesday, in his last five contests, Taylor has only been the crew chief once and has been the “referee two” four times. Prior to VanVleet’s rant, Taylor had been the crew chief in 41 of his previous 52 games this season and hadn’t served as the “referee two” in back-to-back tilts all season.