Giannis Antetokounmpo dazzled as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the New York Knicks 121-111 at the Fiserv Forum on Tuesday. While Antetokounmpo earned a lot of praise for powering the Bucks to victory, he also clearly got away with a blatant travel in the first quarter that left Reggie Miller stunned.
Antetokounmpo eurostepped around Karl-Anthony Towns to score on the fast break, but looked to have taken six steps in the process. Miller, who was on commentary for NBC, had a priceless reaction when he saw the replay.
“My goodness,” Miller said. “Wow. Man, come on. Yeah, we could have played till we were 50 if we get that runway, Jamal [Crawford].”
Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford can’t believe this isn’t a travel for Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Mike Tirico explains the “gather” reasoning for why players can get away with it. 🏀 🎙️ #NBA pic.twitter.com/vwSfFFVWIH
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 29, 2025
Mike Tirico attempted to explain the “gather” rule in the NBA, but Miller wasn’t particularly interested in hearing the explanation. He counted five steps there and made it clear that a travel should have been called. Even Jamal Crawford threw in a little joke about Antetokounmpo switching sports to soccer on that play.
There tends to be a fair bit of debate whenever we see a play like this one. Here is how the NBA has incorporated the gather into the traveling rule.
“The gather will be expressly incorporated into the traveling rule to clarify how many steps a player may take after he receives the ball while progressing or completes his dribble:
“A player who gathers the ball while progressing may (a) take two steps in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball or (b) if he has not yet dribbled, one step prior to releasing the ball to start his dribble.
“A player who gathers the ball while dribbling may take two steps in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball.
“The first step occurs when a foot, or both feet, touch the floor after the player gathers the ball.”
It sure looks like Antetokounmpo traveled even after taking all this into account. We see superstars get away with traveling fairly often, so it isn’t too surprising that the officials didn’t call it there.
While the Knicks could cry foul here, they had no answer for Antetokounmpo when he was playing by the rules. The nine-time All-Star recorded 37 points (16-22 FG), eight rebounds, seven assists, one steal, and two blocks on the night.
Antetokounmpo, who was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday, has now scored over 35 points in three of his first four games in 2025-26. The 30-year-old has been ridiculously efficient too, shooting 69.5% from the field.
Antetokounmpo’s exploits have led to the Bucks getting off to a 3-1 start to this campaign. They will be in action next against the Golden State Warriors at Fiserv Forum on Thursday at 8 PM ET.
