Mexican referee Blanca Burns opened doors in the NBA and now points towards her global goals

Blanca Burns made her debut as an NBA referee just this season, in the duel between the Utah Jazz and the San Antonio Spurs on December 27. Before the night was over, the native of Torreón, Coahuila, had to deal with several complaints from Gregg Popovich, the legendary Spurs coach.

For Burns, that moment wasn’t so awkward thanks to the extensive experience he’s garnered dealing with another pushy group: parents of high school students.

“They’re fierce and they don’t hold anything back,” Burns said in an interview with ESPN. “Putting myself in those intense situations at the lower levels has helped me in the NBA.”

Burns is the first Mexican woman to officiate games in the NBA. She aspires to a long career in the best league in the world and also wants to work for the Olympic Games to represent Mexico internationally. With those goals, Burns wants to inspire the next generation of Latin American women to follow in her footsteps.

Burns fell in love with basketball from his childhood, first in Mexico, then in El Paso, Texas, and Oklahoma, where he moved with his family. Burns’ love for basketball continued to grow.

“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always had a basketball in my hand,” Burns recalled. “I played in school at every level.”

Her talent as a player took her to the collegiate level, specifically at Mid-America Christian University in Oklahoma City, a university where she played two seasons in the NAIA division. Later, in order to earn a little money, she began to work as a referee in games for preschool children. Burns remembers that she presided over four games a day at $25 each.

As her prestige as a referee grew, Burns began to contemplate a career in that profession. As of 2018, she has worked in games at the men’s and women’s college levels, as well as with the NBA G League and the WNBA, before making her debut last December.

Following his first matches at the professional level, Burns has already hosted several high-profile duels. After reporting to the NBA in San Antonio, Burns was part of the refereeing team that worked the game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Lakers two nights later. Although referees are expected to be stoic at all times, Burns enjoyed the moment, even without expressing it openly.

“I saw Lebron James Y Ja Morant out there on the court with me — and I’ll never forget it,” Burns said. “At the same time, you know you’re there to work, so you take care of your emotions.”

The next challenge for Burns is to become a full-time referee in the NBA. In the 2022 season, she is on the roster of nine part-time officials, whose responsibilities are split between the NBA and the G League. Within the pool of 75 full-time referees, the NBA employs just six women, the most in league history: Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling, Ashley Moyer-Gleich, Simone Jelks, Natalie Sago, Jenna Schroeder and Danielle Scott.

According to the NBA, women make up 42% of the referees in the G League are women, which they hope will open the doors for more female referees in the league in the near future.

“It does take time to develop referees,” Monty McCutchen, the NBA vice president in charge of referee development and training, said in an interview with NBA.com. “My predecessors recognized this and planted seeds in the G League. Now, we are seeing the fruits.”

The presence of more female referees in NBA games goes hand in hand with the growth in general when it comes to the role of women within the league.

Present at Burns’ debut in San Antonio were Becky Hammon, who serves as coach of the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA, but also as Popovich’s assistant with the Spurs, as well as ESPN and Jazz analyst Holly Rowe, who commented the duel on television.

“I would just say the NBA has done a great job of putting us out there. If that keeps happening, people won’t be surprised to see women refereeing,” Burns said. “I can give the same quality in my work as a man.”

The NBA seeks to expand its influence in Mexico and the rest of Latin America, and thus serve as another tool for Burns to achieve his desire to become a full-time referee. During his last visit to the country in 2019, Commissioner Adam Silver announced that the Mexico City Capitanes would become the first G League franchise to be based outside of the United States or Canada, with the team debuting in 2021.

“It would be a dream, of course. When the Capitanes were announced, I told my relatives in Mexico. When COVID is over, they’re ready to go to the games. That would be amazing,” Burns said.

In the meantime, Burns will dedicate herself to continuing to work so that the next girl who loves basketball can be inspired to find her own path to the sport’s elite, even if it means taking a less conventional path.

“I go to summer camps and talk to high school girls to tell them that it’s possible to do this if you’re a woman,” Burns said. “I need them to keep seeing me, so they can say ‘if she could, I can too,'” she concluded.