Kerr urges NBA to enforce traveling violations strictly

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is urging NBA officials to crack down on traveling violations, emphasizing that enforcing one of basketball’s fundamental rules would improve the game.

Kerr made his stance clear after receiving a technical foul during the third quarter of the Warriors’ 119-101 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.

The penalty came after what he believed was an obvious travel that went uncalled, adding to his growing frustration with the league’s officiating on footwork violations.

“I don’t understand why we are not teaching our officials to call travel in this league,” Kerr told reporters postgame. “They do a great job and work their tails off and communicate well, but I see five or six travels a game that aren’t called.”

Kerr pointed out that the lack of enforcement is evident not just to coaches and players but also to fans in the stands.

“You know it’s a problem when there are like a hundred fans in the stands and every coach on the sideline when I’m watching film and everyone is (signaling for a travel call). Everyone is seeing it, so we are clearly not teaching as a league our officials to look at the feet,” he said.

The Warriors coach didn’t hesitate to call out his team, admitting that he spotted four uncalled traveling violations by Golden State in their previous game, a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday.

Kerr argued that the NBA needs to address this issue for the integrity of the sport.

“The entire game is based on footwork,” he stressed. “We need to enforce traveling violations, and we are not doing it. And I don’t understand why. … These (officials) are awesome.

“They do a great job, and they have a million things to watch, but footwork is the entire basis of the game, and we need to call traveling. It will be a much better game if we clean it up.”