NBA umpire Eric Lewis retires over ‘burner account’ use investigation… with league ending their investigation
- With the retirement, the NBA has now closed its investigation into Lewis’s social media
- Lewis’ streak of refereeing in the NBA Finals ended during this investigation
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Veteran NBA official Eric Lewis has announced his retirement, effective immediately, after 19 seasons as an umpire.
Lewis has been under investigation by the league since May this year for allegedly using a ‘burner account’ on Twitter to defend himself and other referees.
With his immediate retirement, the NBA said in a statement that their investigation into his social media activities has closed.
Lewis, 52, played more than 1,200 games in 19 seasons in the league. His last assignment was on May 16 for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers.
However, he faced competition discipline when researchers linked him as owner to the Twitter account @CuttliffBlair.
Longtime NBA referee Eric Lewis has retired amid an investigation into his use of social media
The account allegedly belonging to Lewis was seen as commentary on multiple posts
Lewis was not among the twelve officials selected to work on the NBA Finals while the league investigated.
The account was exposed in May by Twitter user @PabloEscoburner. The @CuttliffBlair account was created in November 2015 and, according to screenshots by PabloEscoburner, was a constant defender of Lewis and the NBA in general, responding to negative tweets and highlighting Lewis’s work.
When PabloEscoburner first tweeted about the account and a possible link to Lewis, CuttliffBlair replied that the account was operated by Lewis’ older brother, Mark. PabloEscoburner then showed that the account was deleted later in the day.
Note that the account followed six users: PabloEscoburner, four NBA-related accounts (@RefAnalytics, @OfficialNBARefs, @NBA and @NBAOfficial) and @MasonWBB – the official account of George Mason’s women’s basketball.
Eric Lewis’s wife, Vanessa Blair-Lewis, is the head coach at George Mason.