Nikola Kalinic bashes ref Robert Lottermoser: 'It's against every rule' / News - Basketnews.com

Kalinic said Lottermoser told him he wasn't going to call fouls if the player kept talking to him. The Serbian thinks it's against all rules of basketball and should be addressed publicly, and told Lottermoser he was going to do it.

Credit: Fabrizio Andrea Bertani/Pacific Press via ZUMA Press Wire, Swen Pförtner/dpa - Scanpix Credit Fabrizio Andrea Bertani/Pacific Press via ZUMA Press Wire, Swen Pförtner/dpa - Scanpix

Nikola Kalinic was one of the key players in FC Barcelona's victory against Valencia Basket on Thursday. After the game, the player wanted to address something else.

Kalinic scored 13 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished out 4 assists for 19 PIR en route to an 88-78 victory in Valencia. As such, the 32-year-old was part of the post-game interviews for EuroLeague TV.

After addressing the game, Kalinic directly confronted the game's Crew Chief, Robert Lottermoser.

"I want to say one more thing. I told the ref that I was going to say it publicly. I think it's inappropriate that referee Robert Lottermoser is saying to me that 'If you talk, I'm not going to call fouls for you.' I think it's against every rule of the game," Kalinic said. "I find this really inappropriate, and I want to say this publicly."

"I don't know if he's mad at me for something but it's incredible that the refs say that to me during the game. I think players should be [the] stars of the game, and as long as the referees are thinking like this, I think it's a really big problem," Kalinic continued. "I told him I was going to say this publicly, so I want to keep my word."

Lottermoser is one of the most experienced EuroLeague referees, working in the games professionally for 30 years. Last season, Lottermoser refereed in the most games out of all EuroLeague referees, 34, and worked on both game days during the last round of the regular season (Crvena Zvezda vs. Fenerbahce and Partizan vs. Panathinaikos).

It is currently unclear when the episode Kalinic describes happened during the game.

Kalinic's full comment about Lottermoser:

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