Explaining Why Kevin Durant Wasn’t Backcourt
The NBA has released an explanation of why Kevin Durant was not deemed to be in violation of the backcourt rule with 14.8 seconds remaining in Wednesday night’s game.
The NBA rulebook states “A ball being dribbled is (1) in the frontcourt when the ball and both feet of the player are in the frontcourt, (2) in the backcourt if the ball or either foot of the player is in the backcourt”. In the play from Wednesday night’s Oklahoma City-Denver game, as he received the ball, Kevin Durant stepped on the midcourt line with his left foot which is equivalent to being in the backcourt. He never established position in the frontcourt with both feet so the referees were correct in waiving off a backcourt violation. If Durant had both feet and the ball in the frontcourt and then stepped on the midcourt line, the correct call would then have been a backcourt violation.”
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