NEW YORK – The NBA today announced the list of 36 officials who have earned spots to work the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs presented by Google. The same group also comprises the officiating staff available for the SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament, which began April 15.
“Serving the game in the Playoffs is one of the highest honors as an NBA official,” said Byron Spruell, NBA President, League Operations. “These 36 individuals are essential to the NBA family and have shown persistent dedication to their on-court performance and overall professionalism, leading to this prestigious achievement.”
Below is the list of officials for the first round:
Ray Acosta, Brent Barnaky, Curtis Blair, Tony Brothers, Nick Buchert, John Butler, James Capers, Sean Corbin, Kevin Cutler, Eric Dalen, Marc Davis, JB DeRosa, Mitchell Ervin, Tyler Ford, Brian Forte, Scott Foster, Pat Fraher, Jacyn Goble, John Goble, David Guthrie, Bill Kennedy, Courtney Kirkland, Karl Lane, Mark Lindsay, Tre Maddox, Ed Malloy, Rodney Mott, Andy Nagy, Gediminas Petraitis, Kevin Scott, Ben Taylor, Josh Tiven, Justin Van Duyne, James Williams, Sean Wright and Zach Zarba.
John Butler and Andy Nagy are making their debuts as members of the playoff staff.
The following officials are alternates for the first round: Jason Goldenberg, Marat Kogut, Dedric Taylor and Scott Twardoski.
The officials on the playoff roster average 17.5 years of NBA experience, with 31 having 10 or more years of experience. Twenty-seven officials have five or more years of playoff experience.
Sixteen referees assigned to first-round games have worked 50 or more playoff games. From that group, nine have officiated 100 or more playoff games: Scott Foster (255), Marc Davis (204), Tony Brothers (201), James Capers (189), Zach Zarba (159), Bill Kennedy (151), Ed Malloy (143), John Goble (139) and David Guthrie (110).
Playoff officials are selected by the NBA Referee Operations management team based on three specific criteria assessed throughout the season: NBA Referee Operations grades and rankings, play-calling accuracy and team rankings. Officials will be evaluated after each round of the Playoffs to determine advancement in the 2025 postseason.
The SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament concludes tomorrow as the Atlanta Hawks host the Miami Heat on TNT (7 p.m. ET) and the Dallas Mavericks visit the Memphis Grizzlies on ESPN (9:30 p.m. ET). The first round of the NBA Playoffs presented by Google tips off Saturday, April 19.
Individual game assignments for referees are posted at NBA.com/official at approximately 9 a.m. ET each game day.
