Bucks analyst obliterates NBA referee over foul call: ‘His head’s rolling on the floor!’

Usually, the NBA players of yesteryear are calling out today’s referees for fouls that are too soft, not the other way around.

Wednesday night, former Milwaukee Bucks All-Star and longtime TV analyst Marques Johnson found himself ripping the refs for letting a possible flagrant go as a common foul. During the first half of Milwaukee’s 113-109 win over the Detroit Pistons, Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. took a forearm to his head as he drove to the basket. The foul was called and reviewed for a possible flagrant. But when crew chief Tony Brothers went to the scorers’ table to confirm it was a common foul, Johnson went off.

Marques Johnson: “Because his head is still connected to his neck? Because is not rolling on the floor?” 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/FxKI9hC5wW

— Harris Stavrou (@harris_stavrou) December 4, 2025

“You guys have got to be kidding me,” Johnson ranted. “You got to be kidding me. Because his head is still connected to his neck? Is that the criteria that we’re working with now? His head’s not rolling on the floor?

“‘His head’s rolling on the floor, but it’s not exactly a flagrant because his head is not rolling fast enough,’” Johnson continued sarcastically. “What? Are you kidding me?!”

Johnson has a fair gripe. While Pistons forward Asur Thompson was clearly going for the ball when he made contact with Porter Jr.’s head, we’ve seen much less foul calls get upgraded to a flagrant. Johnson would have to agree; this would have been a common foul when he was playing in the ‘80s. But in today’s NBA, it looked like a flagrant.

The problem is that no one really knows what is or isn’t a flagrant. A flagrant foul is contact that is deemed unnecessary or excessive, regardless of intent. And it does get called, again, based on the potential for injury, regardless of intent.

By that definition, if the same contact occurred but Porter Jr. fell to the ground, or worse, if his head fell off his body and rolled around the ground as in the scenario Johnson painted on the broadcast, a flagrant probably would have been called. But then we wouldn’t have been gifted this great rant from Johnson. So, in that sense, non-Bucks fans probably owe Tony Brothers a debt of gratitude.