The NBA released its list of 36 officials for the 2025 playoffs today, with one notable absentee: J.T. Orr, best known for controversially ejecting Luka Dončić this year.
It was a bizarre ejection. On April 8, with the Lakers up by a point against the Thunder in the final seven minutes, Dončić and a fan had a brief exchange, which prompted Orr to give him a second technical and eject him.
The Lakers went on to lose the game after that. Orr appeared to lose control of the situation in a key game between two elite teams. Given all that, it’s probably smart that the NBA left him off the playoff crew.
NBA Referee Who Ejected Luka Dončić Gets Snubbed
In fairness, while up to 75 officials are selected each year for the regular season, only 36 are selected for the playoffs. The NBA will likely choose the officials with the most playoff experience.
jt orr notably absent from this list https://t.co/Ai8M5RBgds
— claire de lune (@ClaireMPLS)
This appears to be the case here, as the first-round playoff officials have at least 50 playoff games of experience, many of which have far more. For instance, Tony Brothers and Scott Foster have hundreds of playoff games, as have Bill Kennedy, Ed Malloy, and Mark Davis.
The NBA values transparency in its officiating, as we see with the “two-minute reports,” which are released to the public after games. These go in-depth with the accuracy of calls in the final two minutes of games.
Overall, NBA Referee Operations determines the highest graded officials for the playoffs; clearly, Orr misses the cut.
J.T. Orr Gets Snubbed
Whether his poor decision to eject Dončić was a deciding factor is unknown. However, he forgot the basic golden rule: the fans pay to see the players, not the refs. Throwing a player out should always be considered a last resort. Especially, a player like Dončić, who tends to be respectful to players and officials.
In this particular instance, Orr appears to have made a significant error in judgment. This is especially true since the player wasn’t talking back to a referee; it was a fan in the stands. After the game, crew chief Tony Brothers mistakenly said that Dončić “looked at an official and used profane language.” This is inaccurate, as both the fan and the player confirmed it was an exchange between them, not the referee. One writer described it as an “insane decision.”
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt told reporters afterwards it seemed “personal” for the ref. Vanderbilt overheard Orr saying he’d “…speak to anyone but Luka,” at one point.
Judging by those events, it’s definitely for the best that the league looks elsewhere for its playoff officials.
