The NBA has officially announced the officiating crew for the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers, which kicks off on Thursday night.
The 12-man crew was selected based on the evaluation process through each playoff round by the NBA Referee Operations team. This is the pinnacle for NBA officials, as it is a tremendous honor to be selected to officiate on basketball’s biggest stage.
Officials Chosen For 2025 NBA Finals
Here are the officials who will be working the 2025 NBA Finals:
- Tony Brothers (14th NBA Finals)
- David Guthrie (8th NBA Finals)
- James Capers (13th NBA Finals)
- Ben Taylor (1st NBA Finals)
- Marc Davis (14th NBA Finals)
- Josh Tiven (6th NBA Finals)
- Tyler Ford (1st NBA Finals)
- James Williams (5th NBA Finals)
- Scott Foster (18th NBA Finals)
- Sean Wright (2nd NBA Finals)
- John Goble (9th NBA Finals)
- Zach Zarba (12th NBA Finals)
BREAKING: NBA Referees selected for the 2025 NBA Finals:
Tony Brothers (14th Finals)
David Guthrie (8th Finals)
James Capers (13th Finals)
Ben Taylor (1st Finals)
Marc Davis (14th Finals)
Josh Tiven (6th Finals)
Tyler Ford (1st Finals)
James Williams (5th Finals)
Scott Foster… pic.twitter.com/TUld4GDmCE— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) June 3, 2025
Notable Officials
Two rookies, Taylor and Ford, are calling their first NBA Finals, which is a testament to them — clearly the league believes in them despite their limited experience, and they are quickly rising the officiating ranks. Wright is also relatively new, working his second Finals.
Five of the selected officials have over a decade of experience refereeing in the Finals.
Tony Brothers
Brothers’ experience as an official dates back three decades, including refereeing 16 NBA Finals games, more than 1,600 regular-season games, and 187 playoff contests.
Brothers has become a bit of a household name among diehard basketball fans. When you are around the game as long as he’s been, in an uncompromising way, he’s bound to rub a few players the wrong way. In 2024, Chris Paul accused him of having “too much power” after receiving two technicals for mouthing at him in the final seconds of a game.
Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony and his wife claimed in 2016 that Brothers had a personal beef with the New York Knicks star, which the Brothers denied.
Off the court, he runs the Still Hope Foundation, helping single mothers.
James Capers
Capers is another official with plenty of experience calling games on the biggest stage.
He has 28 years of refereeing experience, including 178 playoff games and 14 NBA Finals games. He’s respected around the league, serving on their executive board, and he was the first official appointed to the NBA rules committee.
Capers is the son of a former NBA official, James Capers Sr.
Scott Foster
Foster is by far the most experienced referee in the group. He’s called 241 playoff games and 24 NBA Finals games.
He is infamous among some players for controversial calls, especially from Paul. However, he has denied that he enjoys getting unwarranted attention during games, saying, “I’m not worth seeing, to be honest with you.”
He is highly regarded as one of the top referees by his peers.
Marc Davis
The Chicago native is another official with massive experience. Having officiated 1,500 games and 20 NBA Finals games over two and a half decades as a top referee.
Davis was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2021 as well as the Chicago Public League Hall of Fame.
Zach Zarba
The Brooklyn, NY, resident has 12 NBA Finals games under his belt. He has officiated over 1,200 games in two decades.
Zarba has officiated on numerous levels and across the globe, having refereed in the G-League, the All-Star game, and the International Basketball League.
Prior to officiating, Zarba played at SUNY New Paltz, where he was the team captain as a senior. He is known for doing work in the community with organizations such as Brooklyn Youth Sports Club, It’s From the Sole, Camp Felix, and Beyond the Game Inc.
