Why the NBA is calling way more traveling

“Highlight truthers” have always been part of the NBA’s fan culture. Anytime there’s a play that looks too good to be legal, you’re bound to hear a loud mob shout about traveling.

They haven’t always been wrong. For example, Wizards fans are still convinced LeBron James traveled here.

And this non-call from Jeremy Lin seems like one, but it isn’t.

The lines here are thin.

Typically, according to the league officials, the numbers have been “down” on travels in the past.

But it feels like that trend is shifting, and the evidence backs it up. Through Nov. 28, traveling calls are up to 2.54 per game from 1.63 last year. And it’s happening for a specific reason: The uptick in three-point shooting we’ve seen over the last few seasons.

When offensive players spot up along the perimeter, they have to keep one foot bolted to the floor when they’re pump faking and trying to drive by a defender flying at them. Sometimes, they forget that part.

And after years of letting it slide, the league is starting to notice, too.

On a cool Sunday afternoon on Nov. 5, the Wizards went to Toronto to play the Raptors without John Wall. They came away with a 107-96 win, but an 11-turnover second half kept Toronto in the game.

One of those turnovers was a travel by small forward Kelly Oubre Jr. He caught the ball at the top of the arc and did this. The whistle blew.

Oubre was attempting to execute a move called a “load step,” one used by every NBA player that spots up along the perimeter. The shooter is supposed to pivot against the defender’s momentum when he sees a closeout. To do that well, they must push, or “load,” their off foot back to generate extra momentum before they start their dribble.

But Oubre didn’t do it correctly — at least according to the letter of the law.

“It’s that little extra step that you need to get into your rhythm sometimes,” Oubre told SB Nation. “But a travel isn’t allowed. And if you put that first foot up, they’re calling that.”

Referees weren’t paying much attention to the load step in the past, but now, it’s their primary focus. Because of that, the slightest little misstep could cost your favorite team a possession.

Watch Oubre’s right foot closely. Even slowed down, it’s difficult to notice the infraction.

Now, watch Eric Gordon’s left foot for an example of a legal load step.

The difference is hard to spot, but it’s there. Oubre establishes his right foot as his pivot foot, but shifts it ever so slightly before he dribbles the ball. Gordon, meanwhile, establishes his left foot as his pivot and keeps it firmly to the ground as he snakes around Harrison Barnes’ closeout.

When your pivot foot drags even a tiny bit, it’s a travel.

“You can’t get too excited. Sometimes people get a little too excited and take that extra jump. You just can’t waste your motion,” Oubre said.

In the past, instead of watching the driver’s feet, officials were taught to look for contact from the defender first. Their eyes were on the ball rather than down on the floor.

But with three-point shooting and spot-up play becoming so widespread, officials were told to shift that mindset over the summer. Now, they first look for the offensive player’s pivot foot rather than the defender.

“We understood that there was a need to get more of these [travel calls],” one league source told SB Nation. “We weren’t getting them as consistently as we wanted to and we just switched up the mechanics to make it better.”

Officials have been given more leeway to make calls from across the court. An official from the lead position on the baseline can call a travel that happens at the top of the arc, even if that’s normally the job of the official standing on the wing. The slot official, who’s positioned in front of the scorers table, has that same jurisdiction all over the court.

That way, someone is spotting the load step infraction, even if it means overruling another official who didn’t see it.

Sacramento Kings guard Garrett Temple didn’t come into the league as a shooter, but through hard work and patience, he made himself into one that launches almost 5.3 threes per 36 minutes while hitting 38 percent of them. The key to his improvement lied in mastering the load step — he calls it the “split step.”

But with officials looking closer at those feet, Temple, like other NBA players, is teaching himself to be more self-conscious of his footwork. And that’s not easy.

“There isn’t a certain drill for that, but you think about it when you’re working out. It just kind of comes naturally,” Temple told SB Nation.

Players practice the load step like any other triple-threat move, but it’s hard to tell when they’re doing it incorrectly until after the fact. You’ll sometimes see a player stop their drive immediately because they know they lifted that back foot.

The challenge is that no drill can simulate the speed of an NBA game. Even players who practice the load step religiously still end up lifting their foot up in games, as much as they try to avoid it.

“A lot of guys think they work on it, [but] they still do it and walk,” Wizards forward Otto Porter said.

They’ve noticed the league’s renewed point of emphasis and accept it.

“I see what they’re getting at,” Oubre said. “They’re just out here doing their job. They know exactly what they have to call.”

They’re OK with it because they know they’ll get used to these calls being made and can adjust accordingly, even if it’s unnatural. Even after a quarter of a season, travels calls are slowly leveling out. Through 19 days, there were about 2.8 travel calls per game. Now, as of Nov. 28, we’re down to about 2.6. The players are adjusting.

They must, because the league says they’re all-in with this new strategy. It’s been effective and the calls have been correct.

The highlight truthers are finally getting their way, in a sense. These aren’t the exact travels they’ve been hunting, but these are still travels nonetheless. Your team’s best shooter might have to adjust a bit, but these are the rules.

They’re just finally being enforced now.

“Some guys, they have to change their game,” Lakers forward Corey Brewer said. “Because if you’re catching and moving, they’re looking at your feet now.”