NBA Referee Eric Lewis Retires, Investigation into His Social Media Activity Closed

NBA referee Eric Lewis was under investigation by the league regarding his social media activity, which kept him from officiating in the 2023 NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat.

However, the NBA announced on Wednesday that the investigation is now closed after Lewis informed the league of his retirement.

Lewis had been an NBA official for the last 19 seasons, according to the National Basketball Referees Association. He had been chosen to officiate games in the 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 NBA Finals. Counting the regular season and the playoffs, he has worked over 1,200 NBA games over his career.

The NBA opened the investigation near the end of May after it was found that a Twitter account, which has since been deleted, had frequently mentioned Lewis as well as other league referees to defend them from online criticism. Two Twitter users revealed tweets that indicated the account, which used the name "blair cuttliff," was likely a burner account operated by Lewis.

The NBA didn't announce whether or not it was determined that the account was actually owned by Lewis. Prior to the deletion of the "blair cuttliff" account, a response to one of the Twitter users was posted from someone claiming to be Eric's older brother, Mark.

"Pablo, This is MARK Lewis. Right family (older brother). I'm sorry that I put E, in this situation, but this ain't Watergate. You're right, the account WILL be coming down. Twitter should not be this vindictive. Sorry to inconvenience you," the tweet stated.

Lewis' last game as an NBA referee came on May 16 when the Nuggets hosted the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.