When the NBA announced it was investigating the Twitter account that seemed to be strangely supportive of NBA official Eric Lewis, it was hard to know how things would turn out.
But it’s hard to believe that anyone would’ve expected things to end how they just did.
On Wednesday, the league announced that Lewis was retiring from the NBA. That wasn’t all, though. Not only was the veteran official retiring, but the NBA also announced it was immediately ending its investigation into the social media activity surrounding him.
It was a strange confluence of announcements that nobody expected in the middle of the summer. This wasn’t Lewis announcing his retirement — it was the NBA telling us this was his choice.
It’s just…strange!
NBA referee Eric Lewis is retiring in the aftermath of his social media activity. pic.twitter.com/i1z5H9oLle
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) August 30, 2023
So now with that decision, we’ll never actually know what was going on with that @CuttliffBlair Twitter account.
Many thought the account was a burner Lewis used to defend himself amid some online scrutiny from fans. Lewis, himself, said the account was run by his brother. Others speculated that, maybe, the account was being run by another family member, too.
Now, we’ll never know. That’s pretty disappointing news. It didn’t stop NBA fans from speculating about it at all, though.
Twitter still thinks it was him. Following this news, it’s kind of hard to blame everyone. This is just so weird.
"You taking the window or the stairs?" https://t.co/d1M075pZRg
— Adam Thomas (@TheHonorableAT) August 30, 2023
He can tweet in peace now https://t.co/STJDQesCR9
— warriorsworld (@warriorsworld) August 30, 2023
No way… a referee retiring after getting exposed is crazy and very telling https://t.co/xBSGXYlZ57
— LegendOfWinning (@LegendOfWinning) August 30, 2023
I’m not sure I believe that this is a Tim Donaghy type scandal like some people seem to think, but to close an investigation simply because the subject of your investigation retired is weird optics https://t.co/IbVvUVVWKg
— AlexHoops (@AlexHoops_) August 30, 2023
NBA dealing with refs https://t.co/Zj11ABS1DM pic.twitter.com/p1xluPGryS
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) August 30, 2023
https://t.co/NdawGInst8 pic.twitter.com/zaaiYjULe3
— Jabari Ali Davis (@JabariDavisNBA) August 30, 2023
Can almost guarantee you that the NBA informed him he was retiring, not the other way around. Now they have plausible deniability for…yeah. https://t.co/Axkmpihhkw
— Jordan Woods (@jordanwoods960) August 30, 2023
All of Lakers Nation to this news #NBATwitter pic.twitter.com/dxtNgXhvSm https://t.co/Al49ivZJqk
— 𝙹𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚒 𝚔𝚒 𝚁𝚊𝚗𝚒 🥀 (@saymanjagraphy) August 30, 2023
Why would they close the investigation? NBA needs to see it through for the sake of transparency. https://t.co/G39ZwnMWpn
— Omar Little (@CPenIV) August 30, 2023
Wasn’t monitoring this story seriously, but my eyebrow is officially raised! https://t.co/3icqjVFqbV
— Harrison Grimm (@Harrison_Grimm) August 30, 2023
This is so strange, man. Maybe we’ll get answers one day. Hopefully, that day comes soon. Because, clearly, we’re all still very curious.
