Plenty of national teams faced off in 2026 World Cup Qualifying play on Friday, which may have had Boston Celtics' superstar Jayson Tatum thinking about using his feet a bit more.
Driving down the lane against the Utah Jazz on Friday night after stealing an errant pass, Tatum ambitiously attempted to dribble behind his back, left-to-right, to get past his first defender, despite a second defender trailing to his right. The second defender occupied his dribble space and jarred the ball loose.
Problem is, as you can see here, neither of the Jazz defenders could get their hands on the loose ball, and it seemingly magically wound up in Tatum's hands for an easy lay-up:
JAYSON TATUM OR MESSI?! 🤯😠pic.twitter.com/nl3IjW7jok
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) March 22, 2025
A closer review shows Tatum's heel clipped the ball and happened to kick it up above the defenders in a perfect location for him to grab it and get an easy two points.
Fans might be wondering why a kicked ball violation wasn't called. Section IV of the NBA's Rule No. 10 stipulates that a player can't kick the ball intentionally but that unintentional ball contact with the foot is not a violation.
As cool as this play was, there's no doubt that it was a lucky heel volley more than an attempted kick. If it was, Tatum might want to put his hand up for the struggling USMNT ahead of the 2026 Olympics.