Before his career in the NBA, Foster worked as a referee for two years in the
Continental Basketball Association and had officiated college and high school basketball games. In his second season of officiating NBA games, Foster was assigned to his first nationally televised game, an April 1996 match between the
Los Angeles Lakers and
Phoenix Suns. When the Lakers'
point guard,
Magic Johnson, bumped into Foster while contesting a call, Foster ejected Johnson, leading to the latter controversially receiving a three-game suspension and $10,000 fine. Critics of Foster have asserted that he issues technical fouls for seemingly arbitrary reasons, misses crucial foul calls, and favors certain teams. In February 2019,
James Harden called Foster “rude and arrogant.” During the scandal, the NBA hired Lawrence Pedowitz of the law firm
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate Donaghy. In an October 2008 report, Pedowitz concluded that despite being interviewed by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation in August 2007 as a possible co-conspirator, Foster was likely innocent. Pedowitz framed Foster's frequent, short calls to Donaghy as consistent with Foster's communications with other referees while on the road, noting that Foster's
mobile network operator would record a call that went to voicemail as either one or two minutes long. In March 2024, NBA player
Rudy Gobert was fined $100,000 for rubbing his fingers together in a
money gesture at Foster during a game. In a post-game interview, Gobert implied that Foster was unfairly officiating games due to his sports gambling interests. ==References==