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Right or wrong, few officials in sports are as notable as the NBA's Scott Foster.
Foster, who wears No. 48, has been an NBA official since 1994 and has called over 20 games in the NBA Finals.
Throughout his officiating career, Foster has made headlines with a longstanding feud with Chris Paul, his (un)familiarity with rapper Jack Harlow and, notably, a tendency that led to him earning the nickname, "The Extender."
How did Foster earn this nickname? Here's why the moniker has stuck with the veteran official.
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Scott Foster 'The Extender,' explained
Foster is called "The Extender" because fans have speculated that teams tend to stave off elimination when Foster is a member of the game's officiating crew. It's a nickname that often re-appears when Foster is assigned to an elimination game in the NBA playoffs.
For example, in 2024, Foster was on the call when the Timberwolves faced a 3-0 series deficit to the Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. Coincidence or not, Minnesota avoided a sweep with a five-point road win over Dallas.
In response to Foster's alleged role in the series being extended by a game, 11-year NBA veteran Gilbert Arenas took to X (formerly Twitter) to add fuel to the fire of The Extender's narrative.
Arenas' post was simple: Foster's headshot with text reading "series extended" at the bottom.
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) May 29, 2024There are plenty of other examples of Foster-called games that are contrary to the narrative, however. In 2025, longtime NBA writer Tom Haberstroh cited a study that showed there wasn't much evidence to show Foster was really "extending" most series.
In fact, based on game data from Basketball Reference that shows the assigned officials for a playoff game, from the 2020 NBA Playoffs through the 2025 NBA Playoffs, there were 54 games in which Foster was an official and the series was not already tied — meaning a team held the advantage in the series.
In those games, the trailing team in the series won the Foster-officiated game 27 times, which is a 50% win percentage. In other words, from 2020-25 in the NBA playoffs, trailing teams only "extended" the series half the time in Foster-officiated games — not as much as a nickname like "The Extender" might indicate.
Here's a look at all of the instances of Foster calling a non-series-tied NBA playoff game between 2020 and 2025:
| Year | Round | Game of Series | Previous Series Score | Winning Team | Series "Extended"? |
| 2020 | West First Round | 2 | Clippers 1, Mavericks 0 | Mavericks | Yes |
| 2020 | West First Round | 6 | Clippers 3, Mavericks 2 | Clippers | No |
| 2020 | West First Round | 5 | Jazz 3, Nuggets 1 | Nuggets | Yes |
| 2020 | East First Round | 4 | Raptors 3, Nets 0 | Raptors | No |
| 2020 | East First Round | 3 | Celtics 2, 76ers 0 | Celtics | No |
| 2020 | West Second Round | 2 | Rockets 1, Lakers 0 | Lakers | Yes |
| 2020 | West Second Round | 4 | Clippers 2, Nuggets 1 | Clippers | No |
| 2020 | East Second Round | 3 | Heat 2, Bucks 0 | Heat | No |
| 2020 | Eastern Conference Finals | 4 | Heat 2, Celtics 1 | Heat | No |
| 2020 | NBA Finals | 3 | Lakers 2, Heat 0 | Heat | Yes |
| 2021 | West First Round | 2 | Mavericks 1, Clippers 0 | Mavericks | No |
| 2021 | East First Round | 4 | Hawks 2, Knicks 1 | Hawks | No |
| 2021 | West Second Round | 2 | Jazz 1, Clippers 0 | Jazz | No |
| 2021 | East Second Round | 4 | Nets 3, Bucks 1 | Bucks | Yes |
| 2021 | East Second Round | 2 | Hawks 1, 76ers 0 | 76ers | Yes |
| 2021 | East Second Round | 6 | Hawks 3, 76ers 2 | 76ers | Yes |
| 2021 | Western Conference Finals | 2 | Suns 1, Clippers 0 | Suns | No |
| 2021 | Eastern Conference Finals | 2 | Hawks 1, Bucks 0 | Bucks | Yes |
| 2021 | NBA Finals | 3 | Suns 2, Bucks 0 | Bucks | Yes |
| 2021 | NBA Finals | 6 | Bucks 3, Suns 2 | Bucks | No |
| 2022 | West First Round | 2 | Suns 1, Pelicans 0 | Pelicans | Yes |
| 2022 | West First Round | 6 | Grizzlies 3, Timberwolves 2 | Grizzlies | No |
| 2022 | East First Round | 4 | Celtics 3, Nets 0 | Celtics | No |
| 2022 | East First Round | 4 | 76ers 3, Raptors 0 | Raptors | Yes |
| 2022 | East First Round | 5 | Bucks 3, Bulls 1 | Bucks | No |
| 2022 | West Second Round | 2 | Warriors 1, Grizzlies 0 | Grizzlies | Yes |
| 2022 | East Second Round | 4 | Heat 2, 76ers 1 | 76ers | Yes |
| 2022 | Western Conference Finals | 5 | Warriors 3, Mavericks 1 | Warriors | No |
| 2022 | Eastern Conference Finals | 4 | Heat 2, Celtics 1 | Celtics | Yes |
| 2023 | West First Round | 2 | Clippers 1, Suns 0 | Suns | Yes |
| 2023 | West First Round | 5 | Nuggets 3, Timberwolves 1 | Nuggets | No |
| 2023 | East First Round | 4 | Knicks 2, Cavaliers 1 | Knicks | No |
| 2023 | East First Round | 3 | Celtics 2, Hawks 0 | Hawks | Yes |
| 2023 | West Second Round | 4 | Lakers 2, Warriors 1 | Lakers | No |
| 2023 | East Second Round | 2 | Heat 1, Knicks 0 | Knicks | Yes |
| 2023 | East Second Round | 6 | Heat 3, Knicks 2 | Heat | No |
| 2023 | Western Conference Finals | 3 | Nuggets 2, Lakers 0 | Nuggets | No |
| 2023 | Eastern Conference Finals | 4 | Heat 3, Celtics 0 | Celtics | Yes |
| 2023 | NBA Finals | 4 | Nuggets 2, Heat 1 | Nuggets | No |
| 2024 | West First Round | 4 | Timberwolves 3, Suns 0 | Timberwolves | No |
| 2024 | West First Round | 2 | Nuggets 1, Lakers 0 | Nuggets | No |
| 2024 | East First Round | 6 | Knicks 3, 76ers 2 | Knicks | No |
| 2024 | East First Round | 5 | Pacers 3, Bucks 1 | Bucks | Yes |
| 2024 | East First Round | 3 | Cavaliers 2, Magic 0 | Magic | Yes |
| 2024 | West Second Round | 4 | Timberwolves 2, Nuggets 1 | Nuggets | Yes |
| 2024 | West Second Round | 2 | Thunder 1, Mavericks 0 | Mavericks | Yes |
| 2024 | Western Conference Finals | 4 | Mavericks 3, Timberwolves 0 | Timberwolves | Yes |
| 2024 | Eastern Conference Finals | 2 | Celtics 1, Pacers 0 | Celtics | No |
| 2024 | NBA Finals | 4 | Celtics 3, Mavericks 0 | Mavericks | Yes |
| 2025 | West Second Round | 2 | Nuggets 1, Thunder 0 | Thunder | Yes |
| 2025 | East Second Round | 4 | Knicks 2, Celtics 1 | Knicks | No |
| 2025 | Western Conference Finals | 2 | Thunder 1, Timberwolves 0 | Thunder | No |
| 2025 | Eastern Conference Finals | 3 | Pacers 2, Knicks 0 | Knicks | Yes |
| 2025 | NBA Finals | 4 | Pacers 2, Thunder 1 | Thunder | Yes |
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Scott Foster stats
Foster has refereed 1,929 games in his NBA career, according to Basketball Reference. The home team has won 59.6% of those games while the road team has come out on top 40.4% of the time.
The two teams Foster has refereed the most in his career: Dallas (153) and Boston (141).
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