Scott Foster

Scott Foster (born April 8, 1967) is an American professional basketball referee for the National Basketball Association (NBA). He began refereeing for the NBA in the 1994–95 season and wears number 48.

Foster has been labeled as the worst referee in the NBA by anonymous players polls ranging from 2016 to 2023. He has also been nicknamed "The Extender" because teams trailing in playoff series have often won games he has officiated, thus lengthening the number of games played. The records show disgraced referee Tim Donaghy placed 134 calls to referee Scott Foster — more than the 126 calls Donaghy made to his girlfriend — between October 2006 and April 2007, the period during which he has confessed to either betting on games or passing on game information to gamblers. The majority of the phone calls lasted no more than two minutes and occurred prior to and after games Donaghy officiated and on which he admits wagering.

Foster was born on April 8, 1967, in Silver Spring, Maryland. He attended Magruder High School, and then the University of Maryland.

Before his career in the NBA, Foster worked as a referee for two years in the Continental Basketball Association and in college basketball, and for six years in high school basketball. As of the 2021–22 NBA season, he had officiated 1,617 regular-season games and 226 playoff games in 28 seasons. One of his most notable games was the deciding Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics; he officiated along with Danny Crawford and Joey Crawford.