Tension between referees and NBA players continues to build

No other professional sports league caters more to its players than the NBA. The coddling of star athletes is obvious as they have been given whatever they asked for in recent years.

Players have affected front office moves, dictated who can or cannot be the coach and some even bring along multiple friends everywhere they go as if they are players themselves. There is really no end to what a team won't do to appease their star players. It sometimes backfires, but throughout the league, it has become commonplace.

Referees are probably the last bastion in the NBA community to stand up to players wild behavior and hold them accountable.

We've seen it escalate this year as LeBron James, Steph Curry and even Kevin Durant have all been ejected from games for their actions towards officials.

The frustration has been building

It is no secret that the league has had issues with officiating before. Tim Donaghy was sentenced to federal prison after it was discovered he was taking bribes on games he was officiating. That was a pretty isolated incident though. What has been more common is the frustration between the players and the refs.

Star players are used to getting star calls. That means maybe an extra step dribbling or the benefit of the doubt that any missed shot must've been due to a foul, looking at you LeBron. The problem now is it seems like everyone thinks they are a star player and deserving of special treatment.

The referees reacted by starting to treat everyone the same. This brought upon new enemies.

It is evident when the top players in the league are consistently losing their cool like never before. Calls that they would once get are no longer being called that way and it is upsetting. When they try to get an explanation from an official though, they are either given a "hand up, don't talk" signal or given a technical foul.

Neither of these tactics are effective at diffusing a volatile situation.

How will this get resolved?

The referee's association and the NBA players union are proposing a meeting to take place during All-Star weekend. The hope is that a neutral meeting will allow both sides to air grievances and find a common ground.

One of the bigger issues that players have is the disrespectful and dismissive tone that officials give when asked about certain calls.

They were told that is how the refs are trained, but the NBA has come out and denied that. This type of confusion is something that can either be properly dealt with at the upcoming meeting or could turn things even nastier if both sides lose patience with each other.