Dubs’ Chris Paul says NBA never reached out over Scott Foster feud

Warriors point guard Chris Paul said Wednesday that the league has not called him regarding his latest spat with referee Scott Foster, despite commissioner Adam Silver indicating otherwise.

After delivering high praise to Paul and Foster, Silver openly acknowledged the feud between the two men during a radio interview Wednesday. He even shared that the league has tried to talk with both the player and the official about the situation.

“The way you handle that, at least the way we’ve tried to handle that, is talk to both of them and say, ‘The expectation is you’re going to be professional.’ And deal privately with the two of them and just say, ‘Guys, whatever the bad blood is between you two, you don’t have to be friends, but you got to both go out and do your jobs,’” Silver said. “So that’s my expectation going forward.”

The one problem? Paul denies that ever happened.

Following the Warriors’ 110-106 win against the Trail Blazers on Wednesday, a reporter asked Paul about the supposed detente, telling the 38-year-old that Silver claimed to have “talked to y’all” and that the commissioner “thinks you guys are going to be professional and yadda, yadda, yadda.”

Paul replied, “He said he talked to us?” The reporter clarified, saying that Silver “said there’s been talks.” 

“Nah, ain’t nobody call me since all that happen,” Paul said. “… Usually sometimes they’ll call, interview, something like that. Ain’t nobody texted, called or nothing since that happened.”

Paul and Foster have been feuding for years now. The point guard famously went on a 13-game losing streak in the playoffs with Foster as an official, and has spoken out several times after contentious moments with Foster on the sidelines. On Nov. 22, Foster tossed Paul from the Warriors-Suns game with two quick technical fouls, prompting Paul to add another chapter to their beef history when he told reporters after the game that the tension between him and Foster is “personal” and stems from an incident from years ago involving Paul’s son.

When the reporter on Wednesday asked Paul whether he expects “anything to change,” Paul said “ain’t nothing ever changed, you know what I mean, as far as that.” He then asked once more whether Silver said he had already talked to Paul or whether he just planned to, prompting the reporter to say, “It sounds like he said that you guys, there’s been talks.”

“Nah, I missed that. Yeah, I missed that,” Paul said, acknowledging there had been a meeting “some years ago” but nothing recently.

Silver’s comments sure seem to be a warning to the two men to get their act together on the court, but he’ll have to wait until Foster’s next game officiating the Warriors to see if his words had any impact.