NBA promotes Danielle Scott to full-time referee: ‘I think they’ve accepted us at this point’
The NBA promoted Danielle Scott to a full-time official on Monday, making her the sixth woman on the league’s current staff.
The NBA now has the most women it’s ever had on its officiating staff at a single time.
Join us in welcoming John Conley, Brandon Schwab and Danielle Scott as they make their full-time NBA Official debut this season! We'd also like to congratulate all of the officials returning for the 2021-22 NBA season. #NBRA #NBA75 pic.twitter.com/dixfA0vRmX
— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) October 18, 2021
“I think they’ve accepted us at this point,” Scott said, via The Associated Press. “So I think if we’re not there, we’re very, very close to being there.”
Scott was one of three full-time hires the NBA announced on Monday, joining John Conley and Brandon Schwab. The three of them are all coming up from the G League, and worked at least 20 NBA games last season. Scott was in the G League for four seasons.
Both she and Schwab also worked WNBA games this season, too.
Scott, who is Black and the daughter of two college officials, knows she had the experience to hold her own in the NBA already. It’s the impact she can have on others while simply being on the court, though, that matters.
She told the Associated Press of an experience she had after a G League game last season when a man and his three daughters asked her for a photo.
"Representation matters," Scott said, via The Associated Press. "I took the picture with them and they just were asking me all these questions, so it was really rewarding. Sometimes with the job, the stress, the day-to-day, you don't realize the impact that you have. And just that moment, it was really awesome for me and it made me realize, 'Wow, people are looking at me.'"
Scott will now officially join Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling, Ashley Moyer-Gleich, Simone Jelks, Natalie Sago and Jenna Schroder as the league’s six female officials. There are 75 total full-time officials for the 2021-22 season, and nine non-staff officials.
"It's continuing our thought of 'What do good officials look like?'" NBA vice president and head of referee development and training Monty McCutchen told The Associated Press. "They look like anyone you see on the street. They look like men, they look like women, they look like people from different cultures. There's both diversity and inclusion in our hires."
