Ken Mauer

In 2019 – 2020 when Mauer was the main official, the home team wins over 57% of the time, total points are typically over 219, and there are nearly 40 fouls called per game. When Mauer is lead, games home and away teams receive nearly the identical number of fouls. In the four games Mauer has officiated as a crew member, the home team won 75% of the time with nearly a 10 point differential. Total score was slightly higher at 221 with more fouls (52%) called on the home team.

Mauer has been the subject of controversy numerous times and caught the ire of Mark Cuban. On one occasion, Cuban publicly called for the NBA office to discipline Mauer over a game not even involving his own Dallas Mavericks. “”Suspend him, demote him, make him ref a game in the D-League,”” Cuban said. The tirade was based on missing a blatant double-dribble and an ejection of Clippers coach Doc Rivers. Mauer watched as the Brooklyn Nets’ Bogdanovic caught the ball above the top of the 3-point arc, dribbled once with his right hand, picked the ball up, dragged his pivot foot and dribbled again with his left hand before passing to a teammate. “”That call? At the beginning of the game? Right in front of him?”” Cuban said. “”That wasn’t an error in judgment. “”Refs are going to miss things because there’s other things going on, but there was nothing else going on. It was the first or second play of the game, and he was standing right there.”” Cuban implied deeper and more sinister issues at play but declined to be more specific . “”This wasn’t just a missed call. This was something else,”” Cuban said. “”I don’t know what it was. Sometimes it’s the problem; sometimes it’s the symptom of a problem. I think this is more reflective of a symptom of a problem.”” “”Because the quality of officiating matters in this game, you know?”” Cuban said. “”Standings are impacted. Mistakes happen. Lots of calls are hard, but not all of them. Some of them are just lack of focus and attention, and that’s the one thing you should be able to avoid at all times, particularly from such an experienced ref.””
In 2000, Mauer was convicted of tax evasion, and one count of obstruction of justice for not reporting downgraded airline tickets as income to the IRS. Mauer was sentenced to five months in jail, five months of home detention, three years of supervised release, and 800 hours of community service. At the conclusion of the trial, Mauer said, “”I’m proud that I stood up for myself. At the same time, I’m relieved that it turned out this way. This is the first decent day I’ve had in a year and a half. This summer is going to be hard, serving my sentence. But I’m going to turn it into a positive thing. I’m going to help the kids, I’ll get into shape.””

Ken Mauer has officiated 1,935 regular-season games over 33 seasons as an NBA referee. He has also worked 218 playoff games, including 19 Finals games. Mauer has the longest tenure among active NBA referees. He has reffed big games like during the Miami Heat versus San Antonio Spurs Finals in 2013 and Michael Jordan’s comeback with the Washington Wizards from his brief stint in minor league baseball in 1995.