Scott Foster ‘The Extender,’ explained: How controversial NBA referee got his nickname originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Right or wrong, few officials in sports are as notable as the NBA’s Scott Foster.
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Foster, who wears No. 48, has been an NBA official since 1994 and has called over 20 games in the NBA Finals.
Throughout his officiating career, Foster has made headlines with a longstanding feud with Chris Paul, his (un)familiarity with rapper Jack Harlow and, notably, a tendency that led to him earning the nickname, “The Extender.”
How did Foster earn this nickname? Here’s why the moniker has stuck with the veteran official.
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Scott Foster ‘The Extender,’ explained
Foster is called “The Extender” because fans have speculated that teams tend to stave off elimination when Foster is a member of the game’s officiating crew. It’s a nickname that often re-appears when Foster is assigned to an elimination game in the NBA playoffs.
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For example, in 2024, Foster was on the call when the Timberwolves faced a 3-0 series deficit to the Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. Coincidence or not, Minnesota avoided a sweep with a five-point road win over Dallas.
In response to Foster’s alleged role in the series being extended by a game, 11-year NBA veteran Gilbert Arenas took to X (formerly Twitter) to add fuel to the fire of The Extender’s narrative.
Arenas’ post was simple: Foster’s headshot with text reading “series extended” at the bottom.
There are plenty of other examples of Foster-called games that are contrary to the narrative, however. In 2025, longtime NBA writer Tom Haberstroh cited a study that showed there wasn’t much evidence to show Foster was really “extending” most series.
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In fact, based on game data from Basketball Reference that shows the assigned officials for a playoff game, from the 2020 NBA Playoffs through the 2025 NBA Playoffs, there were 54 games in which Foster was an official and the series was not already tied — meaning a team held the advantage in the series.
In those games, the trailing team in the series won the Foster-officiated game 27 times, which is a 50% win percentage. In other words, from 2020-25 in the NBA playoffs, trailing teams only “extended” the series half the time in Foster-officiated games — not as much as a nickname like “The Extender” might indicate.
Here’s a look at all of the instances of Foster calling a non-series-tied NBA playoff game between 2020 and 2025:
Year
Round
Game of Series
Previous Series Score
Winning Team
Series “Extended”?
2020
West First Round
2
Clippers 1, Mavericks 0
Mavericks
Yes
2020
West First Round
6
Clippers 3, Mavericks 2
Clippers
No
2020
West First Round
5
Nuggets
Yes
2020
East First Round
4
Raptors 3, Nets 0
Raptors
No
2020
East First Round
3
Celtics
No
2020
West Second Round
2
Rockets 1, Lakers 0
Lakers
Yes
2020
West Second Round
4
Clippers 2, Nuggets 1
Clippers
No
2020
East Second Round
3
Heat 2, Bucks 0
Heat
No
2020
Eastern Conference Finals
4
Heat 2, Celtics 1
Heat
No
2020
NBA Finals
3
Lakers 2, Heat 0
Heat
Yes
2021
West First Round
2
Mavericks 1, Clippers 0
Mavericks
No
2021
East First Round
4
Hawks
No
2021
West Second Round
2
Jazz 1, Clippers 0
Jazz
No
2021
East Second Round
4
Nets 3, Bucks 1
Bucks
Yes
2021
East Second Round
2
Hawks 1, 76ers 0
76ers
Yes
2021
East Second Round
6
Hawks 3, 76ers 2
76ers
Yes
2021
Western Conference Finals
2
Suns 1, Clippers 0
Suns
No
2021
Eastern Conference Finals
2
Hawks 1, Bucks 0
Bucks
Yes
2021
NBA Finals
3
Suns 2, Bucks 0
Bucks
Yes
2021
NBA Finals
6
Bucks 3, Suns 2
Bucks
No
2022
West First Round
2
Suns 1, Pelicans 0
Pelicans
Yes
2022
West First Round
6
Grizzlies 3, Timberwolves 2
Grizzlies
No
2022
East First Round
4
Celtics 3, Nets 0
Celtics
No
2022
East First Round
4
76ers 3, Raptors 0
Raptors
Yes
2022
East First Round
5
Bucks 3, Bulls 1
Bucks
No
2022
West Second Round
2
Warriors 1, Grizzlies 0
Grizzlies
Yes
2022
East Second Round
4
Heat 2, 76ers 1
76ers
Yes
2022
Western Conference Finals
5
Warriors 3, Mavericks 1
Warriors
No
2022
Eastern Conference Finals
4
Heat 2, Celtics 1
Celtics
Yes
2023
West First Round
2
Clippers 1, Suns 0
Suns
Yes
2023
West First Round
5
Nuggets 3, Timberwolves 1
Nuggets
No
2023
East First Round
4
Knicks 2, Cavaliers 1
Knicks
No
2023
East First Round
3
Celtics 2, Hawks 0
Hawks
Yes
2023
West Second Round
4
Lakers 2, Warriors 1
Lakers
No
2023
East Second Round
2
Heat 1, Knicks 0
Knicks
Yes
2023
East Second Round
6
Heat 3, Knicks 2
Heat
No
2023
Western Conference Finals
3
Nuggets 2, Lakers 0
Nuggets
No
2023
Eastern Conference Finals
4
Heat 3, Celtics 0
Celtics
Yes
2023
NBA Finals
4
Nuggets 2, Heat 1
Nuggets
No
2024
West First Round
4
Timberwolves 3, Suns 0
Timberwolves
No
2024
West First Round
2
Nuggets 1, Lakers 0
Nuggets
No
2024
East First Round
6
Knicks 3, 76ers 2
Knicks
No
2024
East First Round
5
Pacers 3, Bucks 1
Bucks
Yes
2024
East First Round
3
Cavaliers 2, Magic 0
Magic
Yes
2024
West Second Round
4
Timberwolves 2, Nuggets 1
Nuggets
Yes
2024
West Second Round
2
Thunder 1, Mavericks 0
Mavericks
Yes
2024
Western Conference Finals
4
Mavericks 3, Timberwolves 0
Timberwolves
Yes
2024
Eastern Conference Finals
2
Celtics 1, Pacers 0
Celtics
No
2024
NBA Finals
4
Celtics 3, Mavericks 0
Mavericks
Yes
2025
West Second Round
2
Nuggets 1, Thunder 0
Thunder
Yes
2025
East Second Round
4
Knicks 2, Celtics 1
Knicks
No
2025
Western Conference Finals
2
Thunder 1, Timberwolves 0
Thunder
No
2025
Eastern Conference Finals
3
Pacers 2, Knicks 0
Knicks
Yes
2025
NBA Finals
4
Pacers 2, Thunder 1
Thunder
Yes
MORE:Every No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the NBA Playoffs
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Scott Foster stats
Foster has refereed 1,929 games in his NBA career, according to Basketball Reference. The home team has won 59.6% of those games while the road team has come out on top 40.4% of the time.
The two teams Foster has refereed the most in his career: Dallas (153) and Boston (141).