NEW YORK – The NBA announced today that Kane Fitzgerald, a top-performing referee with 13 seasons of officiating experience in the league, has been named Vice President of Referee Operations and Replay Center Principal.

Fitzgerald will come off the court as an official to assume his new position immediately.  He will replace Jason Phillips, who served three years as Replay Center Principal after 19 years as an NBA official.

In his new role, Fitzgerald will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the NBA Replay Center in Secaucus, N.J.  His Referee Operations duties will include creating training videos and interpreting the rules of the game for officials, teams, broadcasters and media.

“Kane’s broad experience and distinguished record as an NBA official make him well suited to oversee our efforts to maintain the highest of standards for the NBA Replay Center,” said NBA President, League Operations Byron Spruell.  “We are fortunate that he will bring his skills and expertise to such an important leadership position.”

“I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the talented people who make the NBA Replay Center such an integral part of our game,” said Fitzgerald.  “While I will miss officiating games, I look forward to this new challenge of supporting and further enhancing the Referee Operations group.”

Fitzgerald has officiated 779 NBA regular-season games and 69 playoff games, including four NBA Finals games.  He worked Game 4 of the 2022 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors, the last of the 13 playoff games that he officiated in the 2021-22 season.  Fitzgerald was also one of the referees for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland.

In addition to his NBA experience, Fitzgerald was an official in the NBA G League for four years and the WNBA and college basketball for two years each.  He started officiating high school games at age 18.

A New Jersey native, Fitzgerald played college basketball at Centenary University in Hackettstown, N.J., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2004.