It’s not quite as shocking as Bam Adebayo scoring 83 points in a game, but what NBA fans saw in Atlanta on Thursday night is certainly something you don’t see every night in the Association. However, it was meant for the blooper reel instead of the history books.
It happened during the Hawks-Nets game when referee Sha’Rae Mitchell was taken out by a cameraman.
That doesn’t immediately sound like an entirely uncommon occurrence. Camera operators are positioned courtside very close to the action and sometimes collisions can happen when people running at full speed run out of room. However, this instance certainly was because it happened on the sidelines during the course of play.
As Mitchell was running up the sidelines, a cameraman was inexplicably present focused on a fan in the front row during the fourth quarter. She then ran into him at full speed, needing a few moments to collect herself after hitting her head, even sitting down in front of the scorer’s table.
NBA ref Sha’Rae Mitchell WENT DOWN with an injury after hitting her head on a camera operator 😳
She was able to stay in the game 🙏 pic.twitter.com/jHLHvm0t7R
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 13, 2026
It was obvious that Mitchell was incredulous over the situation. The look that she shot the cameraman after the collision could melt all the ice that’s left in Antarctica. An amateur lip-reading even makes it look like she told the cameraman, “get off the court.”
What was the camera operator doing there in the first place, though? Especially during live game action? Was that really the time to be focused on getting a fan reaction shot in the front row when you are standing right in the middle of the official’s path? There’s not really space on an NBA sideline for both!
At least for once an NBA referee was not the source of controversy this time, but the league would probably prefer they don’t get injured by rogue camera operators entering the field of play either.