Rookie NBA woman referee Lauren Holtkamp was smacked with a chauvinist comment from Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul after she called him for a technical foul Thursday night in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Paul criticized Holtkamp for the foul in the third quarter when Los Angeles tried to inbound the ball quickly after a Cleveland free throw,
according to the Los Angeles Times.
"We're trying to get the ball out fast every time down the court and when we did that she said, 'Uh-uh,' and I said, 'Why uh-uh?' and she gave me a tech and that's ridiculous," Paul told the Los Angeles Times. "If that's the case, then this might not be for her."
The Clippers' DeAndre Jordan told the The Times that Holtkamp hit him with a technical foul less than a minute later for saying, "Yeah!" after scoring.
"She said she thought I was talking to her," Jordan said to the newspaper.
Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, though, pointed to his own team for their play, suggesting to the Times that he should have pulled out his starters after halftime.
"We usually stay in games and fight our way back, but I thought when they jumped on us early it was over," Rivers said after the game. "I thought you could see it in our energy and from there, it was just a long game to watch."
Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles posted on Twitter that initially she felt uncomfortable with Paul's statements because she felt he was taking about her abilities as a woman referee in the NBA but later believed he was he was referring to her being a rookie referee.
Holtkamp, who worked part-time in the NBA for two seasons before this year, is the third full-time women referee in the NBA, according to
Grantland. The first, Violet Palmer, is in her 17th season while Dee Kantner retired in 2002.