"Tony Brothers getting ran into was karma": Veteran NBA official taking a hit during Warriors-76ers has fans wheezing

Veteran NBA official Tony Brothers took a hard hit during the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers’ nationally televised TNT matchup on Tuesday. The unexpected incident left NBA fans in stitches.

Brothers was standing on the sidelines officiating when Sixers shooting guard Jaden Springer intercepted a pass from Warriors rookie Brandin Podziemski. After corralling the ball and redirecting it to his teammate, Springer ran directly into Brothers, causing him to lose balance and tumble to the ground.

The veteran official got back to his feet and recovered quickly. However, fans still had fun reacting to the incident on X, formerly Twitter.

Amid fans’ ever-growing animosity toward officials, many were satisfied to see Brothers get taken out.

“Tony Brothers getting ran into was karma,” one fan said.

“Tony Brothers got what he deserved,” another said.

Meanwhile, others just found the nature of the hit to be hilarious in general.

“Jaden Springer ran into Tony Brothers and sent him sprawling like a bowling pin as he went for the steal, LMFAO,” one fan said.

“Bro just tackled Tony brothers,” another said.

Below are some more of the top fan reactions to Brothers getting knocked down on national TV:

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Tony Brothers among NBA’s most divisive referees according to players

NBA fans may not be the biggest Tony Brothers admirers. However, it appears that players are much more divided on the longtime referee.

In a survey of 108 players conducted last year, Brothers received the most votes for being the league’s “best ref.” He tallied 28.8% of the vote, followed by Zach Zarba in second place (18.2%).

One anonymous player highlighted how Brothers is easier to communicate with than other officials.

“He always talks s**t to us,” the player said. “He interacts with us instead of taking everything personally. He'd be like, ‘Sit your ass down, you know you fouled him.’”

However, when it came to the vote for “worst ref,” Brothers tied Evan Scott for second place with 8.5% of the vote. The two trailed only veteran official Scott Foster (25.4%), who has been accused of having feuds with certain players.

An anonymous player who voted for Brothers noted how easily offended the veteran is.

“He's the worst ref to ever do it in the NBA,” the player said. “He takes everything personal. He's awful.”

So, it appears that, like most officials, Brothers can’t please everyone. However, given that he is now in his 29th season as a referee, most would probably agree that the veteran must be doing something right.

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