Paolo Banchero looks the part of a future NBA superstar. And after his heroics at the expense of the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night, it’s hard to argue against this possibility for the first-time All-Star.
There’s just one problem: the NBA world seems to believe Banchero traveled on his awesome game-winning shot. Let’s unpack this.
In the final few seconds, the court is cleared for Banchero to make a move one-on-one on Detroit’s Jalen Duren. When Banchero tries to get space on the baseline, it almost looks as if he’s jumping to the left without dribbling. That, by definition, would be a travel and automatic turnover.
PAOLO BANCHERO OFF-BALANCE JUMPER WINS IT ‼️ pic.twitter.com/VfQyTOulun
— NBA (@NBA) February 25, 2024
Of course, Banchero’s move only likely looks illegal in the heat of the moment. As explained below, Banchero is allowed to make a full gather move to the left as he hasn’t actually established his pivot foot.
That would mean no travel, a clean play, and a big win for a Magic team fighting to solidify itself in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. (Orlando will probably need more shooting to do it.)
Lotta people calling this a travel so let's break this down in SLO MO.
Even under a microscope we can see a gather + two foot jumpstop. At this point either foot can be lifted to establish the other as the pivot. Paolo's right foot slides slightly but that's no issue. Clean play… https://t.co/Cs1Nwi9rTY pic.twitter.com/NeYubruPSj
— Automatic (@automaticnba) February 25, 2024
NBA fans were a little more skeptical and mixed on what went into Banchero’s awesome game-winning sequence.
Bill Kennedy misses a travel on this game winning shot by Paolo Banchero, but he did call a foul.
— Aaron Johnson (@AJohnsonNBA) February 25, 2024
incredible shot by Paolo (ignore the blatant travel) pic.twitter.com/zPME4NkF2O
— Slightly Biased (@BiasedSlightly) February 25, 2024
Okay I hate to be that guy, I usually am not a rule merchant
But I just watched that play again, that travel from Paolo was insanely egregious.
— Ku (@KuKhahil) February 25, 2024
Paolo clear travel for the game winner 😭 pic.twitter.com/Vn5rpS0YRW
— Lucro 💫 (@lucrodontmiss) February 25, 2024
Watched this last night.
Did Paolo travel? Yes he did.
Were there other calls missed in that fourth quarter? Yes there were.
As an Orlando Magic fan, am I upset about this? Absolutely not. https://t.co/hc2ikGOyLA
— Bernard Oliver (@boliver36) February 25, 2024
Paolo got away with a travel to win the game. We got another star in the making 😤 pic.twitter.com/9P5cc6Vx5S
— Reel BC (@RealBisi) February 25, 2024
Paolo is gonna be great, but that’s a travel for sure https://t.co/IbEZgVlahT
— Tyler McGuirk (@tylermguirk) February 25, 2024
I love travel discourse so Paolo didn’t travel and I’ll argue it to the death
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) February 25, 2024
Paolo fan for life but nba is wrong for not calling this travel pic.twitter.com/EOyaAc73id
— Jonathan (@jonathan1504j) February 25, 2024
