Earlier this week, a weird little conspiracy theory began to make its way around NBA Twitter. Eric Lewis, a referee in the league for 18 years now, was accused of having a burner account used only to defend himself and his calls. Here is the evidence presented in favor of that it's actually Lewis behind the account "blair cutliff."

It's compelling evidence. But those who have been around the block a few times know to be skeptical. There have been numerous false alarms on this front after the epic Bryan Colangelo saga from a few years back. Everyone wants to be the next person to pull back the curtain on a famous person running an anonymous account, unveiling a grand conspiracy that alters the landscape like The Ringer did. Even with how it looks, it still felt more likely that it was a big ol' coincidence rather than an NBA ref actually having a burner used only to lash back at fans eager to criticize from the couch.

But it seems the NBA itself feels the evidence has some merit. Marc Stein reported on Friday that the league was investigating.

Well, well! There might be fire with this smoke. Interestingly this news broke after the account in question tweeted out that it was actually run by Eric's brother, Mark.

Is it the truth or one last desperate attempt to deflect? The NBA will have to be the ones to tell us.

This article was originally published on thebiglead as NBA Appears to Find Some Merit in Bizarre Referee Burner Account Conspiracy .