Report: NBA Investigating Suspicious Twitter Account Theorized to Be Referee’s Burner
Five years ago a burner Twitter account scandal brought down 76ers general manager Bryan Colangelo, now the NBA is investigating allegations of a similar nature.
The league has opened an investigation into a suspicious Twitter account that has been speculated to belong to veteran referee Eric Lewis, according to a Friday evening report from NBA writer Marc Stein.
On Thursday morning, Twitter user @PabloEscoburner—citing another user, @Mikey_Wyllin—published two screen recordings totaling over three minutes in length depicting the replies of a Twitter account under the name Blair Cuttliff.
"Cuttliff's" replies were almost entirely made to tweets mentioning Lewis, a 19-year veteran who began his officiating career in 2005. Many of the replies are in response to tweets questioning the competitive integrity of the league.
NBA ref Eric Lewis has been outed as having a burner account (@CuttliffBlair). Lmaooo this is a momentous day. The account will surely be deleted soon so for the archives, the entirety of the account’s replies. All involving… yep, Eric Lewis. ????
— Pablo Escobarner (blue check) (@PabloEscoburner) May 25, 2023
(h/t @Mikey_Wyllin) thread ????⬇️ pic.twitter.com/6GTvURouOc
Replies continued… pic.twitter.com/Xe0Niu8U52
— Pablo Escobarner (blue check) (@PabloEscoburner) May 25, 2023
Furthermore, as Twitter users pointed out, one of the five accounts followed by "Cuttliff" was George Mason's women's basketball team. Lewis's wife, Vanessa Blair-Lewis, is the Patriots' head coach.
The account was created in 2015. Been on a war mission toward the end of this season and through the postseason. It has zero (0) followers and hilariously only follows these 5 accounts. ???????????? his wife is the head coach for George Mason WBB.
— Pablo Escobarner (blue check) (@PabloEscoburner) May 25, 2023
Log out, bro. Lmao @CuttliffBlair pic.twitter.com/zuROvuVX4P
As many waves as the Colangelos’ burners made in the wake of 2018’s revelations, a scandal involving a referee creating a burner account would be unprecedented for the NBA.