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Female NBA Referee Suffers Scary Head Injury During Game

Originally posted on Total Pro Sports | By Orlando Silva | Last updated Mar 13, 2026 4:38 PM ET

An NBA referee went viral on Thursday night after an unfortunate incident. The Atlanta Hawks hosted the Brooklyn Nets at State Farm Arena, taking a 108-97 win to improve to 35-31. The game drew a lot of attention in the fourth quarter beyond the Hawks’ 26-18 win.

A referee went viral after colliding at high speed with a camera operator. NBA referees are often under the spotlight for their decisions, but this time, the cameraman was at fault. Official Sha’Rae Mitchell hit her head when she sprinted down the sideline and slammed directly into the operator.

She went down immediately and clutched her head. Players and other officials looked on in concern. Video shows that she was visibly upset with the cameraman, who still appeared unaware of Mitchell’s presence.

The NBA referee needed to sit down for a while, but refused to leave the floor.

LeBron James Calls Out NBA Referees’ Inconsistency

Earlier this week, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James didn’t mince words when discussing the inconsistency he witnesses from NBA referees. During Tuesday’s episode of his “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash, James shared what frustrates him the most about current refs.

“As a player, it’s so inconsistent the way it’s called,” James said. “And as players, we just want consistency. On any given night, you can have one official telling you one thing, and then another official telling you another thing. My take is, is this not a world league conversation that you guys are having about like, ‘This is how we’re officiating these plays, this is how we’re officiating these moves, this is how we’re this,’ or is it just depending on the refs?”

Is today’s officiating hurting the game? @KingJames provides his stance on how it changes on a nightly basis.

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— Mind the Game (@mindthegamepod) March 10, 2026