Former NBA referee Eric Lewis, who retired in August 2023 after violating the league’s social media policy, could be returning to the league after being reinstated into the officiating program as a G League official.
Eric Lewis Could Return As NBA Official
According to ESPN’s Marc J. Spears, Lewis cleared multiple benchmarks, including stress management counseling and training on responsible use of social media, to become eligible to rejoin the officiating program.
Per Spears, Lewis is scheduled to return to action as a referee during a G League Winter Showcase game between the Osceola Magic and Noblesville Boom at 6 p.m. ET Friday at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
“I got chill bumps right now thinking about it,” Lewis told Spears. “I’m excited about earning people’s trust back, getting back to the work, and getting back to the game. What was always the plan when this came about was trying to get back to the NBA. …
“I’m very excited about the [G League] game. It will be really good to get back into that environment and get back part of my life that has been a big part of my officiating career. Get back to that normalcy and familiarity with the top players in the world.”
The following has been released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/uGPxlQFCUR
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 19, 2025
Byron Spruell, NBA president of league operations, said the league “thoroughly investigated Lewis” before giving him the “jointly agreed-upon path” to potentially return to the NBA through the G League, according to Spears.
“He made a mistake, and he owned it,” Spruell said about Lewis. “And we found a path for him to come back. This is not a punitive path; this is a progressive path.
“Any official coming back from injury or what have you comes back through the G League and gets reinstated there and hopefully gets back on the NBA floor. I think for all those reasons we’re welcoming him back with open arms.”
Lewis has worked as an NCAA men’s basketball referee the past two seasons.
Lewis Used Burner Account On Social Media
The league office launched its investigation on May 26, 2023, to determine whether Lewis used a burner account on Twitter (now X) to defend himself and his colleagues.
Lewis last worked on May 16 of that year, when the Denver Nuggets hosted the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. The reports of the tweets surfaced about a week later.
Despite having worked four straight NBA Finals from 2019 to 2022, Lewis was not among the 12 refs scheduled to work the 2023 NBA Finals between the Nuggets and Miami Heat due to his suspicious activity on social media.
“NBA referee Eric Lewis has informed the league office that he is retiring, effective immediately. In light of his decision, the NBA’s investigation into social media activity has been closed,” the league announced Aug. 30, 2023.
they found NBA ref Eric Lewis burner 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/NMPNoIzeWU
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) May 26, 2023
An NBA fan on Twitter recorded a series of posts then from username “Blair Cuttliff” with the handle @CuttliffBlair. The account has since been deleted.
@ClaxFanatic posted, “Lakers being swept but no Eric Lewis.”
@CuttliffBlair replied, “Don’t think he was ever the problem.”
In a separate message, @CutliffBlair posted, “Y’all lost cause they outplayed y’all. Guess Eric put y’all down 20 and had a triple-double.”
Lewis Allegedly Favored The Celtics
In January 2023, Lewis was criticized by the NBA community after a fan discovered that Lewis’ family members are die-hard Celtics fans. @Mikeyyy_Wyllin noted that Boston has an all-time record of 54-29 in games officiated by Lewis.
Under the “likes” tab in the @CuttliffBlair account, users also noticed that @CuttliffBlair had liked several posts from the official Celtics account on Twitter.
“At the time, we were a bit concerned about this burner account,” Spruell said. “And as the investigation unfolded, we actually learned that it was his burner account. And some of the chatter on there and what was posted there made us a bit concerned. As we walked through it, he decided to step away.
“He felt that he made a mistake. We came up to the right agreement for him to retire. But even in there, there was some room left over for him potentially coming back at some point if this situation proved to be the case.
“The investigation was the investigation. I can’t get into great detail. But we did find that it was his burner account, he owned the comments in it and felt in his own mind that it was a mistake in terms of how he portrayed some of the things in there and mischaracterized some things.”
Lewis officiated 1,161 regular-season games, 91 playoff games, and six NBA Finals during his 19-year NBA career.
