Raptors' Fred VanVleet blasts referee Ben Taylor, NBA officiating in profane postgame tirade

Gilbert McGregor

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Raptors' Fred VanVleet blasts referee Ben Taylor, NBA officiating in profane postgame tirade image

Fred VanVleet is fed up.

Following the Raptors' 108-100 loss to the Clippers on Wednesday night, VanVleet used his postgame press conference as an opportunity to voice his criticism of the NBA's officiating. He didn't hold back.

"I don't mind, I'll take the fine — I don't really care. I thought Ben Taylor was f—ing terrible tonight," VanVleet said, calling veteran official Ben Taylor out by name.

"On most nights, out of the three (referees), there's one or two that just f— the game up and it's been like that a couple of games in a row."

(Warning: clip contains strong language)

"Denver was tough, obviously," VanVleet continued, referring to the late ejection of Scottie Barnes in a tight loss to the Nuggets. "You come out tonight, you're competing pretty hard, third quarter, I get a bulls— tech, (it) changes the whole dynamic of the game, changes the whole flow of the game."

MORE: Here's why Scottie Barnes got tossed late in loss to Nuggets

While VanVleet did clarify that he has a positive relationship with some officials, he did double down with his criticism of some, saying "I like a lot of the refs, they're trying hard, they're pretty fair, they communicate well and then you got the other ones who just wanna be d—s and it just kinda f—s the game up, nobody's coming to see that s—."

Specific to Taylor, VanVleet said that "you can look (it) up, most of my techs have been with Ben Taylor officiating, so at a certain point as a player, you feel it's personal — it's never a good place to be, it's not why we lost tonight, we got outplayed, but it definitely makes it tougher to overcome."

According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN, five of VanVleet's team-high eight technical fouls have come with Taylor officiating, including his first career ejection on Nov. 30 in New Orleans.

VanVleet shared that he was whistled for a technical foul on Wednesday for telling his teammates "let's keep playing through the bulls—," which he called "a little bit crazy."

MORE: Fred VanVleet is proving to be biggest winner from Jakob Poeltl trade

On Thursday, the NBA announced that VanVleet has been fined $30,000 for his comments.

Gilbert McGregor

Gilbert McGregor Photo

Gilbert McGregor first joined The Sporting News in 2018 as a content producer for Global editions of NBA.com. Before covering the game, McGregor played basketball collegiately at Wake Forest, graduating with a Communication degree in 2016. McGregor began covering the NBA during the 2017-18 season and has been on hand for a number of league events.