The landing sequence decides whether a jump stop leaves a pivot foot.

The ruleset and dates used here

This page applies the FIBA Official Basketball Rules 2024, version 1.0a, approved by the FIBA Central Board and valid from 1 October 2024. The controlling provisions are Articles 14, 22, 24 and 25. This was the effective FIBA five-a-side ruleset when the page was checked on 26 August 2026.

FIBA has also published Official Basketball Rules 2026, version 1.1. That edition takes effect on 1 October 2026, not before. Its Article 25 retains the same pivot-foot, two-step and landing rules explained here. A league, federation, school association or tournament may appoint a different code, so its competition regulations still control that game.

Freeze the moment the ball is controlled

Foot contacts before control do not count as Article 25 steps. FIBA Article 14 says control begins when a player holds or dribbles a live ball. For a dribbler, Article 24 says the dribble ends when the player touches the ball with both hands at once or lets it come to rest in one or both hands.

Officials therefore identify the control or end-of-dribble frame first. Under Article 25, step one is the first contact by one foot or both feet after control; step two is the later contact by the other foot or by both feet simultaneously. Moving the control frame by one foot contact can change “either foot” into “first foot” or “neither foot.”

A pivot foot stays at its point of contact

FIBA Article 25.1 defines a pivot as stepping one or more times in any direction with the same foot while the other foot—the pivot foot—remains at its point of contact with the court. The player may turn around that point; sliding or dragging the pivot to a new point is not a legal pivot.

The player does not announce a pivot foot. Where both feet are eligible, lifting one establishes the other as the pivot. Where the landing sequence has already fixed one foot, the player cannot switch by putting more weight on the other foot.

Four sequences, three different answers

• Catch while standing with both feet down: either foot may become the pivot. When one lifts, the other becomes the pivot.
• Catch while airborne, then land on both feet simultaneously: either foot may become the pivot. Article 25.2.1 says that when one lifts, the other becomes the pivot.
• Moving stop, one foot then the other: the foot that lands first is the pivot foot. The second foot may move, but it does not replace the first.
• Moving stop, jump from step one and land on both feet for step two: neither foot may pivot. One or both feet may leave to pass or shoot, but no foot may return before release.

A catch and the end of a dribble are not the same

A stationary player who has not yet dribbled must release the ball to start the dribble before lifting the pivot foot. A moving receiver must release the ball before step two. Waiting until the second foot or the step-two two-foot landing has touched is too late to begin that dribble.

A player who performed the jump stop after ending a dribble cannot simply dribble again. That would be a second dribble under FIBA Article 24 unless one of that article's intervening events occurred: a shot, an opponent touching the ball, or a pass or fumble touching another player. An opponent's mere touch may affect second-dribble eligibility; it is not a general rule that erases an already established pivot or legalises any later footwork.

The pivot may lift, but it may not return first

FIBA Article 25 allows a player to jump from the pivot foot to pass or shoot. The player must release the ball before either foot returns to the court. This is why lifting a pivot foot is not, by itself, travelling.

The same release test applies after the step-one-to-two-feet stop that leaves no pivot: the player may lift one foot or both feet, but no foot may return before the ball is released. A step-through can therefore be legal; jumping, landing again with the ball and only then passing or shooting is not.

Hops and replacement pivots exceed the sequence

Article 25.2.1 also prohibits consecutive court contacts with the same foot or with both feet after the dribble ends or control is gained. A left-left landing, or a two-foot landing followed by another two-foot hop while still holding the ball, is travelling.

Other straightforward violations include lifting the pivot before releasing a new dribble, returning a lifted pivot or either foot before a pass or shot is released, and treating one foot as a new pivot after a no-pivot two-foot landing.

A bobble is judged by control, not appearance

FIBA Article 24 calls an accidental loss and recovery of control a fumble and says fumbling at the start or end of a dribble is not itself a dribble. Article 25, by contrast, defines travelling as illegal foot movement while holding a live ball. Officials must therefore decide whether the player was still holding the ball during the disputed movement rather than assuming every untidy touch either resets or preserves the sequence.

A deliberate release is not automatically a fumble. If the foot movement was already illegal before the release, a later drop and recovery does not cure it; if the ball was released in time to start a legal dribble, the dribble rules govern the next touch.

Momentum and a defender can change the outcome

• Falling or sliding: FIBA Article 25.2.2 permits a player to fall and slide through momentum while holding the ball, or to gain control while lying or sitting. Rolling or trying to stand while still holding it is travelling.
• Both players still hold the ball: FIBA Official Interpretations 12-12 treats an airborne shooter who is legally blocked and lands while both opponents still have hands firmly on the ball as a jump-ball situation.
• Defender releases before the landing: Interpretation 12-13 says it is travelling if the shooter returns to the court still holding the ball after the defender is no longer touching it.

How to rule the replay in six checks

1. Name the ruleset. This page's answer is FIBA; do not import another code's vocabulary or penalty.
2. Find control. Mark the catch or the instant the dribble ends.
3. Label contacts. Identify step one and, if used, step two.
4. Assign the pivot status. Either foot, the first foot, or neither foot.
5. Identify the action. A new dribble, pass and shot have different release limits; a player who ended a dribble cannot begin another without an Article 24 event.
6. Compare foot and ball timing. For a dribble, ask whether the ball left in time. For a pass or shot, ask whether a lifted foot returned before release.

An airborne receiver lands on both feet

Situation: A1 catches a pass while both feet are off the court and lands with both feet simultaneously. A1 lifts the left foot, turns on the right, then passes before the right foot leaves its original point.

FIBA 2024 ruling: legal. Under Article 25.2.1, the simultaneous landing leaves either foot available; lifting the left establishes the right as the pivot. The pass is released without an illegal movement of that pivot.

A dribbler uses one foot, then two

Situation: A1 ends a dribble, touches the right foot as step one, jumps from it and lands on both feet simultaneously as step two. A1 then lifts the left foot and rotates around the right while holding the ball.

FIBA 2024 ruling: travelling. The stop itself is legal, but Article 25.2.1 leaves no pivot foot after that step-two landing. A1 could lift a foot to pass or shoot only by releasing the ball before any foot returned.

A moving receiver waits until step two to dribble

Situation: A1 catches a pass while progressing. The right foot is step one and the left foot is step two. Only after the left foot touches does A1 release the ball to start a dribble.

FIBA 2024 ruling: travelling. Article 25 requires a moving receiver to release the ball to start the dribble before step two. The decisive fact is the late ball release, not whether the player subsequently bounces it cleanly.

A two-foot hop follows a legal stop

Situation: A1 ends a dribble and legally stops with both feet down, then jumps and lands again on both feet while still holding the ball.

FIBA 2024 ruling: travelling. Article 25 prohibits consecutive contacts by both feet after control or the end of the dribble. Landing together does not make the second two-foot contact legal.

The main landing outcomes match, but use the NBA's terms

The NBA 2025-26 Official Rules, Rule 10, Section XIII, uses the defined “gather” to start its step count. It reaches the same relevant landing outcomes: both feet on step one can leave either foot as pivot; landing one foot first makes that foot the pivot; and jumping from one-foot step one to a simultaneous two-foot step two leaves no pivot.

Do not use that comparison to claim all basketball codes are identical. The NBA has its own gather definition, replay rules and violation throw-in placement. NCAA, NFHS, WNBA, youth and local games should be checked against the rules actually appointed for that competition.

Travelling is a court ruling, not an FIBA replay category

Under FIBA 2024 Appendix F, the listed Instant Replay System and Head Coach's Challenge situations do not include an ordinary travelling decision. Slow-motion footage may help viewers understand the landing sequence, but it does not itself give a FIBA referee authority to review or overturn that call. Competition regulations can govern whether and how video is available, but they cannot be assumed from a broadcast replay.

The opponents receive a throw-in

Travelling is a violation, not a personal foul. Under FIBA Article 22.2, the opponents receive the ball for a throw-in from the place nearest the infraction, except directly behind the backboard, unless another rule states otherwise. No free throws or player foul are imposed merely for the travelling violation.

Five shortcuts that produce the wrong call

• “Two feet together always means either foot can pivot.” Not when that landing is step two after jumping from one-foot step one.
• “The gather is an extra FIBA step.” FIBA counts step one as the first foot contact after control; “gather” is the NBA's defined term.
• “Lifting the pivot is immediately travelling.” It may lift for a pass or shot if the ball leaves before a foot returns.
• “A legal jump stop allows another dribble.” Not after the player has already ended a dribble; Article 24 controls second-dribble eligibility.
• “Any defender touch resets everything.” FIBA identifies specific effects for opponent touches; it does not state a universal pivot-foot reset.

Governing-body sources and effective versions

• FIBA — Official Basketball Rules 2024, v1.0a, valid 1 October 2024: Articles 14, 22, 24 and 25; Appendix F
• FIBA — Official Basketball Rules Interpretations 2024, v1.0a, valid 1 October 2024: Interpretations 12-12, 12-13 and Article 25
• FIBA — Official Basketball Rules 2026, v1.1, effective 1 October 2026: Article 25
• NBA — Official Rules 2025-26: Rule 4, Sections III and VIII-IX; Rule 10, Section XIII

Checked on 26 August 2026 against FIBA's then-effective 2024 rulebook and interpretations, the published 2026 v1.1 rulebook that becomes effective on 1 October 2026, and the NBA 2025-26 rules for the labelled comparison only. Competition regulations and national adaptations may supplement or replace the baseline.