NBA promotes Intae Hwang, Sha’Rae Mitchell to full-time referee staff

FILE – Referee Sha’Rae Mitchell during an NBA basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and the Detroit Pistons in San Francisco, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. The NBA has promoted Intae Hwang and Sha’Rae Mitchell to its full-time referee staff for the coming season. Mitchell refereed 11 games as a non-staff official last season, and has also worked in the G League and WNBA. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

NEW YORK — The NBA has promoted Intae Hwang and Sha’Rae Mitchell to its full-time referee staff for the coming season.

Hwang is a native of South Korea who moved to New Jersey in 2020 with hopes of becoming a referee in the U.S. He worked seven games as a non-staff official last season and has also worked in the G League, the WNBA, the Summer Olympics and the Basketball World Cup.

Mitchell refereed 11 games as a non-staff official last season, and has also worked in the G League and WNBA. She also worked college games for five years, in the Pac-12, West Coast, Big Sky and Western Athletic conferences.

“We are thrilled to welcome Intae and Sha’Rae to our full-time staff,” NBA senior vice president for referee development and training Monty McCutchen said. “They have excelled in their performance areas and earned the right to officiate NBA games on a regular basis.”

Both will also work G League games this season, as all NBA referees with fewer than four years of service are asked to do.

The NBA has 74 full-time referees and eight other non-staff referees in line for games this season.