NBA reinstates ref Eric Lewis, assigns him to G League

Field Level Media|published: Fri 19th December, 13:32 2025

Feb 8, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NBA referee Eric Lewis (42) stands on the court in the third quarter of a game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images

The NBA announced the reinstatement on Friday of referee Eric Lewis, who retired in August 2023 amid a league investigation into violations of its social media policy.

Lewis, 54, was investigated for allegedly using a burner account on the social media site Twitter, now X, in order to defend himself against critics.

Lewis has been reinstated as an NBA G League official and will begin working games at this weekend's Winter Showcase, the NBA said in a press release.

The NBA said Lewis fully participated in the investigation and cleared several benchmarks to attain reinstatement, including stress management counseling and training on responsible use of social media.

"Over nearly 20 years, Eric established himself as one of the NBA's premier game officials," said Byron Spruell, NBA president, league operations. "While he made a mistake in engaging on social media, our investigation concluded that his behavior did not impact his ability to officiate games fairly and with integrity.

"We are confident he has learned from that experience and can properly serve the game again, first as an NBA G League official and potentially in a return as an NBA official."

During his 19-year NBA career, Lewis officiated 1,161 regular-season games and 91 playoff games, including six NBA Finals games. He was officiating NCAA men's basketball games the past two seasons.

--Field Level Media

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