LaMelo Ball got away with the wildest travel during season opener

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LaMelo Ball got away with the wildest travel during season opener

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated Oct 21, 2026 8:59 PM ET

LaMelo Ball got away with a multi-continent excursion during Wednesday’s season opener.

Ball made his official debut for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday against the Miami Heat. But in the first quarter at Kaseya Center in Miami, Fla., Ball produced an early candidate for the travel of the year.

The star point guard Ball used a Rudy Gobert screen to shed defender Tim Hardaway Jr. He then shuffled to his right for a stepback three … using way more than two steps after he had picked up his dribble.

Bizarrely enough, the referees did not blow a whistle on the play (despite No. 17 official Jonathan Sterling having a direct vantage point of the violation). Here is the video of the comical sequence.

"That’s a travel." How many steps from LaMelo? https://t.co/pmuhYg1zQb
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 22, 2026

Even by the most liberal definition of a gather step, Ball took a bare minimum of three extra steps there. Making matters worse is that he proceeded to hit the shot, giving Minnesota three points that they should not have gotten.

NBA referees have not exactly gotten off to a very flattering start to the the 2026-27 season. During Tuesday’s slate of action, New York Knicks big Andre Drummond also got away with one of the most absurd goaltends ever.

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