NEW YORK – The NBA today announced the list of 36 officials who earned spots to work the first round of the 2018 playoffs.

Playoff officials are selected by the NBA Referee Operations management team based on three specific criteria throughout the season: NBA Referee Operations graded rankings, play calling accuracy and team rankings.  Officials will be evaluated after each round of the playoffs to determine future advancement in the 2018 postseason.

“Having been on both sides of this process, I realize what a special day this is for our playoff referees as they are recognized as the best of the best,” said Monty McCutchen, Vice President, Head of Referee Development & Training.  “We are extremely fortunate to have such a talented group of individuals representing our department in the playoffs.  Each of these referees distinguished themselves throughout the course of our regular season and are deserving of this honor.”

The officials who comprise the 2018 playoff roster average more than 17 years of NBA experience and 11 years of playoff experience, and they total nearly 650 years of service.

Referees assigned to first-round games include the five active officials with the most playoff experience: Ron Garretson (234 postseason games), Ken Mauer (196), Mike Callahan (195), Derrick Stafford (166) and Scott Foster (163).

This year’s playoff staff has 11 officials (31%) with 15 or more years of playoff experience, highlighted by Garretson (30 years in the postseason), Mauer (25) and Stafford (25).

In addition, Kevin Cutler, Karl Lane and Kevin Scott are set to make their playoff debut as NBA officials.

The NBA playoffs begin Saturday, April 14.  Individual game assignments for referees are posted at NBA.com/official at approximately 9 a.m. ET each game day.

To view the list of officials for the 2018 NBA Playoffs, click here.