Giannis Antetokounmpo had a tremendous game against the Knicks on Tuesday night, but the enduring highlight from his 37-point performance may have been an uncalled travel.
At least that's what some people think happened on that play. Others, including Mike Tirico, looked to the official NBA rulebook and made the argument that what Giannis did there was not travel, but take a legal number of steps while in the middle of what they feel is "the gather."
The Corey Brewer Travel
Giannis may have perfected the gather, but he did not invent it. The idea of the gather has existed in basketball for ages and has produced content for as long as blogs have existed. Just look at this video from 2014 where Corey Brewer takes somewhere between four and six steps before dunking the ball on a fast break.
This particular play generated a number of headlines from major sites including ESPN. Even after the rule was put in the books the play made a montage of the worst travels in history on The Jump.
The Gather Rule
The gather was not put in writing by the NBA until 2019. Now according to the rules "the gather is defined as the point where the player gains enough control of the ball to hold it, change hands, pass, shoot, or cradle it against his body."
That's how you get media members making the case that what Giannis did was not a violation despite the fact that he went form half-court to the basket with just one dribble.
The NBA rule is that players can continue to take steps as the ball is spinning in their hands because the dribble has not been discontinued. The gather in this case comes when the left hand touches the ball and his left foot is on the floor. He takes 2 steps after that. Legal. https://t.co/HLWBqFuwSW
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 (@John_Karalis) October 29, 2025
The thing is, you don't even need a specific highlight like this to argue about the rule. A generic post on Reddit in February 2024 that complained about the gather was full of people defending players from accusations of traveling. Then you get videos like this:
I know this is gonna trigger people who don't understand the rules
— Laker Shane (@Shane00) February 20, 2024
This is not a travel in the NBA and FIBA rules pic.twitter.com/eCNpdi5FAs
Does anyone really want something like this to exist?
To quote Justice Potter Stewart, "I know it when I see it." It's a fitting time to use that quote because some of these non-travels protected in the name of "the gather" are truly obscene. I have no idea how the NBA can tinker with the definition of the gather to make that Giannis move a travel again, but at some point we as a society have to stand up and call it what it is. Even if the referees can't.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Gathering Information on the Obscure Rule That Leads to All Those Uncalled Travels.
