Wemby taking one dribble past half court and laying the ball
This is still a travel in high school ball. It’s a different sport entirely when guys can take 3 full strides after picking up the ball. Defenders can’t stop it. It’s not entertaining either.
Actually might not be a travel on the gather in NFHS or NCAA. It was technically, but they usually let that go.
It was definitely a travel on the catch. He takes like two full steps after the catch before dribbling, which is a travel at all levels.
This was changed in FIBA to be allowed while on the move a few years ago, I’m pretty sure it was already the same in the NBA.
Both leagues added a gather step (called step zero in FIBA), and it works for both in and out of possession. If in motion, and you have a foot down when you catch the ball, your next foot is the pivot. You have to dribble before lifting it.
If you watch the clip, he catches, and then takes a step, then lifts that foot before dribbling. Again, a travel in all leagues, but probably not called at least in the NBA.
If you gather while moving in FIBA, you must take your dribble before your second step (so you are allowed to do so even after the foot of your first step is lifted).
You are confusing with the rule that state that you can’t lift your pivot foot before starting your dribble, but the pivot foot is only established when you stop.
Here’s an example explaining it: https://youtu.be/KZu5iE7yrPI?si=13H0eGWPjjwV_zmb&t=32
He takes two steps. He never brings the foot down for the third before the jump.
Gather and two steps we learn this in high-school ball at this point lmao
Bro this is incredibly entertaining wtf are you talking about
The gather step.
it’s a gaaaaaaaaather step
I think it looks crazy because he catches, takes two steps, takes a dribble/gather, and then takes two more steps.
Three steps at the end.
That step can take me home
Country roads
Nah slow it down. It’s legit. Spooky af
The two steps before dribbling is questionable but the layup after dribbling is definitely legit
He definitely takes his damn time putting the ball down to begin with.
Fun fact: the reason why you can have two steps in basketball in the first place was to account for gathering. Then they added the gather step on top which makes no sense.
I have a friend who coaches youth in the Balkans and he says it takes him years to get proper steps into kids’ heads. I mean it makes sense, you watch something on TV and then try to emulate it, and then your coach goes “tf are you doing”
The travel step
They didn’t really “add” the gather step, the gather step was just a codification of existing rules. You need to determine when to start counting the steps, but prior to the definition of the gather step it was ambiguous as written.
It wasn’t ambiguous. Control of the ball was well understood and universally enforced for a very long time. Stupid refs decided it meant two hands on the ball because they didn’t like being accused of missing travel calls and sneaky players were working them over time. The league decided it was lucrative and faked a “clarification” in 2009 to literally change the rule.
The gather isn’t just when two hands are on the ball. It also covers pinning the ball to the body, palming the ball from above, and carrying the ball from below, or otherwise ceasing the vertical drop of the ball. There are clips of guys utilizing the gather step in the 90’s for very natural looking layups (which by the ambiguous rules of the time, could have been called travels which would be ridiculous).
Two more steps and he’d be in France
LeGather Steppe
Crème Abdul-Jabbar imo.
Wemby rides the High Speed Rail to the rim!
Yup! The two step count doesn’t start until one hand is under the ball controlling it or two hands on the ball. He’s not even abusing that rule, his steps are so long it just looks worse 😂
The ironic thing here is that… there’s actually not a gather step as people typically talk about it here.
Typically when people are talking about gather step abuse, they are talking about cases where a step is started during the gather just prior to the second hand being put on the ball, essentially giving 2.99 steps after the gather.
That doesn’t happen here whatsoever. He only takes two steps from the dribble coming back up (still live) and only one full step after his gather.
Steps after a dribble return to the hand aren’t a gather. That’s a common terminology mistake. The active step you are in the process of taking while you stop your dribble (two hands on the ball, or cradle it to the body, etc.) is your gather.
His gather is actually his second to last step, meaning he could have taken a full extra step beyond what is shown in this video and still be legal in the NBA. What he’s doing here would have been legal in the 80s and in high school where there is no gather. His right foot is lifted when he puts both hands on the ball, right foot lands, left foot steps, right foot lifts and never comes to the ground. It’s basically just a standard layup.
But he’d probably get called for a violation for it seeming impossible. Because this looks crazy (because it is.)
(He does utilize a gather when receiving the pass and starting his dribble. But that’s an entirely different case as you’re allowed to step while you gain control of the ball to start the dribble if you receive a pass while moving.)
He gathers with his left foot still on the ground, then takes step 1 onto his right (pivot), and then step 2 onto his left. So it is legal, but he couldn’t have legally taken another step.
This is correct. This type of play is why they added the gather step. Guys have been taking 2 steps to the rim since the 70s, and it was technically a travel but not called.
Look again, this is a gather step + 2 more steps. He literally goes left-right-left. Great explanations otherwise tho.
Not sure where are you seeing 2 more steps? You don’t count the final lift as a step, you are allowed to lift your pivot in the act of shooting if you don’t put it down. It’s not a step until you put your foot down.
His entire motion is just 2 steps into a jump. He’s not abusing the gather step at all.
An example of extreme gather step usage would be something more like this:
https://youtu.be/qhHC-_5JOFs?t=128
Which this kind of stuff really does make me a bit unsettled to watch, since I think it’s probably pushing the rules a bit too far.
But what he’s doing footwork wise is pretty much identical to endless clips of fastbreak layups going back to Jordan, etc. there’s nothing really crazy happening here with zero step abuse imo. As an example, this clip is basically the exact same move (scoop finish and all) just covering significantly less space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMUpu9Nxrog
He gathered on his left, “pivot” stepped on his right, and then jumped off for the layup on his left. If he let his right foot plant again, that would have been a travel.
It’s much easier for idiots on Reddit to just say “WOW GATHER STEP TRAVEL” and not actually understand the rules.
I agree he’s not “abusing” the gather step in that he used less the 2.99 steps, but it’s a straightforward example of gathering the ball on the left foot, then taking two more steps.
PS I hate this thing where you call the one-step a pivot step when absolutely no pivoting has happened. It’s just a language issue but it drives me crazy.
Nobody commenting on your comments understands at all what you’re saying apparently. Just here to say it makes perfect sense.
yep, that’s an underrated aspect of the relaxed (in enforcement) traveling rules in modern NBA. Pretty much every time a player gets possession when moving they take a step before dribbling or shooting that would have been an automatic whistle in the day. Players just didn’t do that motion then and it always looks “off” or “extra” to me, having watched and played a ton in the 80s and early 90s but not as much until recently.
Back then you’d only get two steps, in rhythm, when going up for a layup or dunk. Any other two-step
motion wasn’t tolerated. The common “decel” moves today with two slow deliberate steps, especially with amy change of direction and/or dragging the back foot on the floor, would have been called 100% of the time, to the point where it would have been laughable to try.
Slow it down and it’s legit just 3 steps so yeah, gather step.
The gather leap
Well he is European .
Entertainment is subjective so this is an opinion piece. I’m very pro gather step.
from mars to uranus
The Giannis special
He’s so tall he got the hunter & gatherer step lmao
Yup the four step gather step travel step don’t watch his feet give him the two points step…
And he almost takes three full steps after picking up the ball in the first place.
He moves the entire length of the court and the ball bounces exactly once.
Bro he looks so much faster from this angle than on tv
and imagine at freaking 7’5+ hes running full freaky speed, with the coordination of a SF. Ridiculous
Imagine him charging at you on all fours
Actual Cannibal Wembanyama
He’s gaining on you (Victor Wembanyama) You’re looking for your car, but you’re all turned around He’s almost upon you now and you can see there’s blood on his face My God, there’s blood everywhere!
He’s gaining on you
(Victor Wembanyama)
You’re looking for your car, but you’re all turned around
He’s almost upon you now and you can see there’s blood on his face
My God, there’s blood everywhere!
h
…go on
YES.
If you get near floor seats you will be in awe how freakish their proportions are. They fast and powerful. Then you see someone like wemby and think how is this man even human.
I remember seeing Meta World Peace up close at a laker game near the sidelines and being blown away by how stout and quick the guy was. his shoulders were so broad it looked like he could slap Stonehenge together in a day. TV absolutely trivializes how imposing NBA players are.
This is me. Had the same moment with Donovan mitchell. He looks like the short small guy on tv but the guy in person is huge. He was the widest player on court Cavs vs wiz. His shoulders are massive.
Also sam merril looks like an unathletic white on tv… The guy has an incredible physique. You can tell how strong and athletic he is. If you saw him in person you’d think he’s like a tight end.
I got lower floor seats for heats and sixers this year. I am super excited!! Curious to see how “skinny” trae is too lol.
Everyone should at least sneak down at some point, it really is crazy how the TV normalizes their size and speed
I was close to courtsize seats for a geek national team game a few years ago. Seeing a guy like antetokoumpo ( smaller than Wenby but insanely big still. And faster - stronger ) charging full speed at the basket. Man, I Can Imagine a regular Joe stopping prime Messi but no regular Joe can stop these basketball pros
Imagine jj barea taking a charge on prime LeBron. Such a clutch play in the finals and that must have hurt like a mofo
Everyone moves so gracefully live too lol
Have you perhaps seen celestial bodies? It doesn’t look like their moving but it’s speeding through the universe.
Point is, the closer you are, then the faster it looks. Broadcasts have farther vantage views.
Wemby is a celestial body
bonk
their moving? what about how they actually move?
it’s trite to say given his nickname but seeing him live running down the court at full speed is like watching an extraterrestrial creature roam the earth. I highly recommend seeing the guy in person because there’s really nothing like it. one in seven point five billion, at worst.
I know that broadcasters have experimented with different camera angles, but they gotta find a way to give the viewer something better than the angle they’ve been using for 50 years.
Seeing nba basketball players play up close is crazy. They are so big and move so fast.
it definitely slows down around when he crosses the three point line and starts rising up, right?
“You know I’m automatically attracted to traveling – I just start traveling. It’s like a magnet. Just travel. I don’t even wait,” Wemby said. “And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.”
Lmaooooo bruh this was too good
Grab em by the whistle
It’s actually true when you’re a star they let you travel LMAO
looking like trae young out there
Can’t spell travel without Trae
Why i can never glaze giannis to be honest. His offensive game would be average in any other era
Why do you bother watching a sport, if its in such a bad place that an ”average” offensive player can put up 29pts and 6ast on 57fg% over a 9 year span
He travels and carries his way to half of his points. Out of all the players in the modern era, giannis has benefited the most from the new rules.
I see bro has been studying the Giannis tapes this off season
It’s actually a very clean layup drive tho. He didn’t abuse the gather step at all cuz he only used 1 gather step unlike that crazy Giannis clip. Just perks of having freakishly long limbs, while still maintaining great dexterity.
That’s an ordinary layup performed by an extraordinary human.
Dude, traveled. He dribbled it and took about 4 steps, at the very least three
There’s always at least one.
Its the truth ruth. Check your eyes ,count the steps. If you have go on a long speel to explain why it isn’t. It is
It’s much easier to do this now since apparently it doesn’t matter how many steps you take anymore
At this point they should call it a harvest step.
The Hunter-Gatherer Step
“You Do You, It’s Aight Step”
The plundering step you mean
Looks like a hella travel until you slow it down and see he only takes two long ass steps once both hands touch the ball
Yea idk what these haters are seeing. This is smooth. Not even close to a travel.
It’s literally 4 steps…
He doesn’t give up his dribble until his left hand touches it.
get your eyes checked
You need to learn what literally means, because this ain’t it.
You’re right that it’s not a travel, but it’s at least kinda close. Before the “gather step” rule was added, it would have been a travel.
The travel is at the beginning of the clip
Lmao what? Play it in slow motion
He receives the pass and does one step as he gathers the ball then does another step and the ball doesn’t leave his hand yet…
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Are you saying he’s “carrying” the ball when his hand goes under the ball entering his jump? That’s not a carrying violation at any level of basketball lol. There is no rule that dictates where your hand can be placed on the ball while gathering for a layup.
What about the steps when he receives the ball and doesn’t dribble straight away?
Or do you get gather steps then too?
He catches the ball with his left foot planted. Right step, left step, dribble. Cmon
Since when are you allowed two steps before a dribble?
Sometimes I see Wemby do shit and just go full Ben Affleck smoking meme thinking about the Twolves having to answer for this shit for the next 15 years.
(This is like the 50th time I’ve felt it.) 🤣
Y’all moving out east soon.
So they just signing monstars.
Space Jam was a documentary about the future.
im calling travel on his genetics
Wemby 1 stride = 5 strides for mere mortals.
11 ft hoops incoming
Fucking insane. If we keep breeding them like this, we’re gonna have to expand the court.
Breeding?!
We?!?
Get in there
Expand??
Yeah you late ,come in with us
yeah bro we breeding
oui?!?
we😏*
I uhmm… i v-volunteer 😳👉👈
Death by Snoo Snoo!
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised!
“He’s gotta touch it. He’s gotta rub it and hold it. He’s gotta embrace it. That’s just a mental thing. For the great ones, they touch it.”
I actually wonder if there’s any merit to simply making the entire court bigger?
10 Wemby’s on the court? Yeah, let’s play on a soccer field.
Still would have to pick Steph up at Half Court
I know what kind of man you are
We’re on pace for a lot more Anthony Edwardses
I don’t know why I want to dislike Wemby but hes so smooth with it
Because he is someone who is not morally bankrupt
Yet*
He’s also not a flopper
I’m gonna be honest, he turned into a bit of a flopper because he wasn’t getting calls and sometimes it doesn’t look good but he used to avoid doing it
This is literally the story of everyone who flops
why are you looking for a reason to hate on a person?
You must be new to sports
Honestly I’m convinced a significant subset of the people on this sub don’t even really like the NBA, let alone the players.
yeah I don’t need reasons to hate, just doing it for the love of the game
I hate that about you.
i get it lol,
but personally, my love for the art of basketball supercedes my fandom.
i’m always trying to learn the nuances of the game, and i’ve got to be as objective as possible when doing that.
The order of operations for being a sports fan is 1)root for your team 2)root against your rivals 3)root for chaos. Im a Jets, Mets, and Knicks fan so I empathize with falling back on step 2 in moments where step 1 is futile lol I will hate Tom Brady until my dying breath.
“I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.”
Cause hes so damn good and not on my team, duh.
Watch him enough and you’ll find reasons easy enough
His behavior in the playoffs is all the reason you need to dislike him.
I think he seems like a total dick but I do understand him wanting to hit back sometimes considering the Shaq-esque way he gets mauled off the ball nonstop
Just don’t elbow dudes in the neck lmao
He is not even close to being hack and shaqd.
How old is he again?
we use this same logic for Grayson Allen when he was young and dumb? hell no but Wemby got more talent so ….
Kids in highschool don’t even do that so don’t give me that excuse. He is just a loser.
Shove a high schooler around like Wemby was and see how they react after a few weeks.
Part of Wemby learning to deal with physicality is not overreacting. You might have been a finished product at 22, but I don’t believe he is
“Laying the ball”
Laying the ball UP
Laying the ball is a different thing…
And probably a T
Although as it’s Wemby it’ll probably only be a flagrant 1
Dude’s got the best finger roll in decades
Well that’s terrifying
He’s my guy, but this isn’t something new, Giannis does this all the time
Still cool as hell
That’s the point. If a 7’6” monstar can bully and drive his way to the rack like giannis, game’s over with.
This is just a normal 1 2 step. Idk how you people see it as a travel
From that angle, the wild part is how little time the defense gets to react—one dribble and he’s already at the rim.
when you have a ten-foot stride
imagine if you’re in the stone age and this guy charging at you with a spear lol. range for days.
Freak of nature 👽
Dude is so coordinated for his size and length. Never seen anything like it. I remember Shawn Bradley, who was his size but was clumsy asf
Didn’t Shawn Bradley break his neck on a bike?
Oh man, I totally forgot about that. Now I feel bad for saying that about him
This got dark fast.
He had a custom made wheelchair what could transform like a transformer and raise him up like he was standing.
Apparently it was comically slow. And the guy was a quadriplegic… so he’s using mouth controls and shit.
Just a really really tough and bleak situation.
He died because his injuries couldn’t be effectively treated due to his enormous stature
I dont know anything about basket ball, but i looked it up. Dude got hit by a car that didnt see him.. i feel bad that people think its because he could have been clumsy
It’s not even remotely a travel. Watch it in slow motion. He has his left foot down when he stops his dribble, he then takes a step on his right foot, then jumps off his left foot. Smooth as butter.
half the people here still calling this a travel in 2026 man it aint even close to a travel
This was super clean, not even like a BS nba non travel.
That’s cause ppl like the original rules. Not the 2026 never gave to dribble the ball rules
3 steps is the new 2 steps
His dribble is still active until he touches it with his left hand. He took 2 steps and layed it
If you slow it down by scrolling you realize it’s just gather step then 1 dribble. The gather is just so loooong though
Disregard the gather. Count his steps after the dribble only. Tell me how many?
yea just disregard the rules of the game 😭then it’s a travel
There is no rules about how many steps you can take between or after a dribble. It just matters when you gather the ball.
When Wemby gathers the ball and takes his hand from on top of it to actually gathering it, he then takes two steps. Very easy to see in real time.
Edit: but to answer your question, I’d say about 4 or 5 steps after the dribble. Again though, that doesn’t matter. It’s not steps after the dribble, it’s steps after the gather. You can dribble, take 10 steps, and dribble again/pick it up for your two more steps as long as you never gathered the ball.
What the fuck did i just read
A perfect explanation of the rule. What is wrong about it?
Brother. If you are dead sprint and dribble in such a way that you’re taking 5 or 6 steps between dribbles, that is absolutely a travel. Not saying Wemby did that here, but it’s true otherwise
No that doesn’t mean travel. I can bounce the ball as high as I can, shuffle my feet 20 times and then keep dribbling and it’s not travel. Play basketball and try to dribble with each individual step while in a sprint. It’s impossible
Two.
I mean, yeah, you’re right. But it should be, imo.
why
I mean, he takes like 6-7 steps in the clip. He just times his dribble in such a way that it technically is only 2 steps per dribble by rule. It’s the same thing harden did for years, and I just don’t think it’s within the spirit of the rule.
Yeah given the rules it’s not a travel. I just don’t particularly care for the gather step rule or whatever that’s been going on for a few years.
But that’s just my old man “get off my lawn” type opinion (even though I’m not that old haha). Doesn’t make me right, though…
Why? He picks up the ball, takes two steps, and lays it up.
He dribbles one time in the clip, but takes at least 6-7 steps. He just times the dribble in such a way that only 2 steps count by rule. Same thing harden did for years. It’s not a huge deal or anything, I just don’t personally believe it’s within the spirit of the rule
So do you think that players should have to take one dribble per one step then? Like what should the rule be then? Because in no universe is someone like Wemby or Giannis gonna be taking only one step per dribble lmao
That’s how layups have always worked though?
The travel is before the dribble not after.
People in here complaining about the gather step actually don’t understand basketball man, he barely even used a gather here,
I went to camp as a kid and we had a Sixer come in and tell us we shouldn’t need more than one dribble from the 3 as 10 year olds. This is cool but doesn’t surprise me for a guy his size
They should just remove the dribbling rule at this point lmao
Everyone else is like “yep that possession is over”
Bro what?
So unfair. Dude is the real life slenderman
Æon Dunx
Salty ass people in these comments, this is incredible
It sucks that the reddit app won’t let me slow it down to get a clean look at the steps, but the layup looks legit to me. But just based off instinct I would 100% call a travel on the pickup.
Just slowly scroll on the slider and you can see frame by frame, looks clean to me
Yup, a legit gather step, and then two clean strides right into the layup. Wild!
You are all fuckin wild this guy basically just passed to himself
Don’t wanna shit talk the guy cuz he’s incredible but that’s traveling lol
100% traveling lol. Call it like it is
Zero steps are factually not traveling
What
I’m starting to think he might develop into a solid starter
I can do this and im 6’1. Give me some props
We used to run this drill in high school basketball practice. You start at the end line and throw the ball out with some back spin. One dribble and then you’re in the opposite key.
This man is tall enough to be doing 3 point layups lol
Easiest assist ever
4 steps is a travel right?
I was tempted to upvote especially since there were 999 upvotes when I saw this. But as a Knicks fan I decided to save 1,000 for someone else
Edit: lol and in the time it took me to comment this there is already 1,021 upvotes
lol i do that sometimes too, dw it’s good karma
3 steps
Can you like gather steps throughout the off season and then cash them in whenever you want?
Man growing up you I was taught basically you have 1.5 steps as the first step is your gather step. Now it’s gather plus 2 steps….. worse of all is all the carrying people are doing. Pocket dribble is not a legal dribble and I will die on that hill.
Its crazy how little dribbling basketball requires these days.
Can some one explain how this is legal? I’m fascinated but it’s kind of hard to google. I know there are rules. Steps. “Gather step” They don’t seem to apply here from what I see so I’m missing something.
Anyway. Thanks.
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