Last night, as the Nuggets beat the Lakers 120-113, Stan Van Gundy said “It’s become personal for Ed Malloy,” when the ref made a call against Nikola Jokic and for the Lakers.
Jokic, the greatest basketball player in the world, talks and complains to the officials a lot. That includes Malloy, who can’t let the game get personal.
But that’s exactly what Van Gundy accused him of.
Stan Van Gundy: ‘It’s become personal for Ed Malloy’ vs. Nikola Jokic
Late in the Nuggets – Lakers game, Jokic made a play, poking the ball away from Jake LaRavia and the ball went off of him and out of bounds. But Ed Malloy said it was Lakers ball.
Is it just me or is this a wild thing for Stan Van Gundy to say 😳 pic.twitter.com/1wzgEZ47yi
— JJJJazzman (@MColoradoGA) March 6, 2026
Jokic was incensed, incredulous, and so were other Nuggets players as well as head coach David Adelman.
After the Lakers got the ball, Luka Doncic knocked down a 3-pointer they shouldn’t have had a chance to shoot. Adleman was shown telling another official “ef me” when the shot went in.
“Well, that was clearly off of LaRavia,” said Van Gundy on Prime for the national audience. “Ed Malloy is in a little bit of a battle with Nikola Jokic right now. I hate to say it, but it’s become personal for Ed Malloy. That was an obvious call. There’s no way Ed Malloy missed that call.”
These are serious allegations.
An NBA color commentator just accused an NBA official of calling a play against the Nuggets and Jokic because Jokic was in his ear all night long.
NBA referees, just like officials in every sport, have to try their best to remain impartial.
Sure, we know star players get more calls than regular dudes. That goes for Jokic, LeBron, Luka, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the list goes on. That’s how the league wanted to start calling games going back to the Michael Jordan heyday in the 1990s.
But deliberately calling against a player, whether he be a star or not, is a terrible look on the NBA.
Following the game, Ed Malloy was asked two questions about the game, but neither were about this out of bounds play.
Referees need to be seen as impartial or hurt the credibility of the NBA
Officials having it out for a player hurts the credibility of the NBA.
Simple as that.
There have been many conspiracy theories floated about the league for years. Some about the NBA Draft lottery being rigged, and others about the big market teams—LA, Boston, Chicago—being favored over small-market teams, and on and on.
Don’t forget, referee Tom Donaghy was sentenced to prison for betting on NBA games while he was employed with the league. That was before all the betting sites became legal.
His scandal was a huge dark cloud over the league and only helped perpetuate those rumors and allegations that the league is rigged.
If the NBA wants to stay on the up and up, they need officials calling games in an unbiased way. And they also need color commentators not saying a ref is deliberately calling a game against one player or team on live TV.