Often times in sports, officiating calls -- or non-calls -- are subjective.
But after he crossed halfcourt, picked up his dribble, moved forward two steps and then proceeded to dribble again, even LeBron James had to admit he blatantly traveled in the first quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers' 121-96 win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
"It was the worst thing, probably one of the worst things I've ever done in my career," James told reporters after the game. "I didn't realize I did it until halftime, to be honest. One of my coaches showed me. I didn't even realize I did it."
But perhaps the craziest part about James' travel is that it wasn't a travel -- at least not officially. Rather, the officials let the 4-time MVP continue his second dribble before passing the ball to Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
During the third quarter of the contest, television cameras caught James joking with a fan about the no-call.
“Yeah I know that was bad. That was real bad," James could be heard saying during a free throw attempt. "I didn’t even know I did it until I saw it at half-time. That’s the worst I’ve ever done. Yeah, that was f---ed up. I feel bad for them though.”
As the former Cleveland Cavaliers star explained after the game, his "malfunction" came as the result of him being distracted by some off-ball movement from Caldwell-Pope and Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell.
"I was watching the underneath play and KCP and Donovan got into it. KCP started to run and then Donovan bumped into him, he fell on the ground," James said. "I think I was ready to pass the ball and my brain just kind of just -- I just had a malfunction. I really had a malfunction. I felt bad for the refs on that one 'cause they'll probably get a write up on that one. That was pretty bad."
James went on to finish the game with 20 points and 12 assists as the Lakers improved to 19-3 on the season. His one turnover -- even by his own admission -- was one fewer than it should have been.
