NBA fans were split on whether Paolo Banchero traveled on his game-winning shot against the Pistons

Credit: NBA

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.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: NBA fans were split on whether Paolo Banchero traveled on his game-winning shot against the Pistons