NBA Working to Improve Relationship Between Players and Officials

Today the NBA announced a new initiative aimed at improving the on-court relationship between players and officials. This season has seen that relationship strained on a number of occasions, most notably in the altercation between official Courtney Kirkland and Golden State Warriors guard Shaun Livingston last month. The incident, detailed here, resulted in the temporary removal of Kirkland from the officiating rotation and a one-game suspension for Livingston.

No doubt the introduction of this program is intended to not only help players and officials better understand each other moving forward, but to prevent future instances of inappropriate behavior from all parties.