NBA promotes three G League refs to full-time 2026-27 staff

NEW YORK — Oct. 14, 2026 — The NBA has named Nate Cearley, Brent Haskill and Chelisa Painter as full-time staff officials for the 2026-27 season, the league announced Wednesday through NBA Communications.

Albert Sanders, the NBA’s executive vice president and head of referee operations, and Monty McCutchen, senior vice president and head of referee development and training, made the promotions official. All three move up from the NBA G League ranks and will keep working G League games alongside their NBA assignments this season.

Why the dual schedule continues

NBA referees with fewer than four years of service on the league’s staff also work G League games so they can gain more experience as crew chiefs and develop as leaders. That practice continues for Cearley, Haskill and Painter.

The three new staff officials

Cearley, a Kansas native, refereed eight NBA regular-season games as a non-staff official in 2025-26. He has five years in the G League with 234 games and playoff assignments in all five seasons, including the 2026 NBA G League Finals.

Haskill, from Florida, worked 32 NBA regular-season games as a non-staff official across five seasons from 2021-22 through 2025-26. He has eight years and 336 games in the G League and has officiated each of the last four G League Finals. He has also worked Basketball Africa League and NBA Summer League games, including the Las Vegas championship game in 2023, 2025 and 2026.

Painter, a Virginia native, refereed three NBA regular-season games as a non-staff official in 2025-26 after five years and 215 games in the G League, including playoff assignments in three seasons. She spent seven years as an NCAA Division I official. Her promotion brings the number of women on the NBA’s full-time officiating staff to nine for 2026-27, joining Dannica Baroody, Simone Jelks, Sha’Rae Mitchell, Ashley Moyer-Gleich, Jenna Reneau, Natalie Sago, Jenna Schroeder and Danielle Scott.

Season tip-off context

The 2026-27 regular season opens Tuesday, Oct. 20, with an NBC and Peacock tripleheader: Boston at Detroit, New York hosting Philadelphia, and San Antonio meeting Oklahoma City.

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