Experienced National Basketball Association (NBA) referee Zach Zarba once picked out the hardest player to officiate on the court.

Zarba, 51, has been an NBA referee since 2004, having previously taken charge of matches in the NBA Development League, which is now the NBA G League. He also had spells officiating in the CBA and the IBL.

After moving to the NBA in 2004, the Brooklyn-born referee has officiated more than 1,180 regular season games across 19 seasons as an NBA official.

In addition, Zarba has also refereed 133 playoff matches, including 11 NBA Finals games. He was also the official for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto.

During what has been a brilliant career at the top of American basketball, Zarba has come across some of the biggest names in the sport, including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and Michael Jordan.

Zach Zarba Reveals Hardest Player to Officiate in the NBA

Back in 2025, while speaking on an episode of The Storm, Zarba named the player who was the hardest to officiate.

The 51-year-old stated that former NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace had a way to make sure he and his team were up for the game by making calculated technical fouls.

He explained: “Here’s the thing that people don’t understand about Rasheed: Rasheed is super smart. He would do stuff to get himself going sometimes.

“You know, like you learn players over the years, some guys got to get themselves going, and if they’re not going, they need to get it going somehow.

“But he’s calculating at times and doing it for a reason - to get himself going, to get his team going.

“And so those Pistons, when I broke in - that Pistons team that won a championship in ’04 - That team, and Ben Wallace. They were rough. Rough. Rough. Rough.”

Wallace, now 52 years old, won the NBA Championship once in 2004, when he was playing for the Detroit Pistons. He also had spells with the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.

Aside from being a one-time NBA champion, Wallace was selected in the NBA All-Star team in 2000, 2001, 2006, and 2008.

Since retiring in 2013, Wallace has coached for the Pistons, as well as Jordan HS and Memphis.

In total, Wallace recorded 16,006 points in his playing career, as well as 7,404 rebounds and 1,460 blocks.

Speaking in 2025 about his infamous technical fouls record, Wallace said: “I’m happy to say I got two NBA records that’ll never be broken. One is that I got 40-something technicals in one season. I doubt that will ever be broken.”