Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Josh Wilson

Jayson Tatum Accidentally Heel-Kicked a Ball to Himself for Beautiful Layup

Tatum scored 26 in the Celtics' win over the Jazz | Screengrab / @HoHighlights on X (formerly Twitter)

Plenty of national teams faced off in 2026 World Cup Qualifying play on Friday, which may have had Boston Celtics' superstar Jayson Tatum thinking about using his feet a bit more.

Driving down the lane against the Utah Jazz on Friday night after stealing an errant pass, Tatum ambitiously attempted to dribble behind his back, left-to-right, to get past his first defender, despite a second defender trailing to his right. The second defender occupied his dribble space and jarred the ball loose.

Problem is, as you can see here, neither of the Jazz defenders could get their hands on the loose ball, and it seemingly magically wound up in Tatum's hands for an easy lay-up:

A closer review shows Tatum's heel clipped the ball and happened to kick it up above the defenders in a perfect location for him to grab it and get an easy two points.

Fans might be wondering why a kicked ball violation wasn't called. Section IV of the NBA's Rule No. 10 stipulates that a player can't kick the ball intentionally but that unintentional ball contact with the foot is not a violation.

As cool as this play was, there's no doubt that it was a lucky heel volley more than an attempted kick. If it was, Tatum might want to put his hand up for the struggling USMNT ahead of the 2026 Olympics.


More NBA on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jayson Tatum Accidentally Heel-Kicked a Ball to Himself for Beautiful Layup.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.