Anonymous
Years ago

Question on the 3 second key rule

I just wanted to know if anyone could help or point me in the right direction. I was watching a game the other night and a player on offense was in the key. They were not in for more than 3 seconds. What the player did was step out of the key and over the base line to be out of the key and the court. They then stepped back into the key and the ref blew the whistle and said you can't do that. In my thinking, the player has left the restricted area (outside of the key) and then back into the key to reset their three seconds. The ref blew the whistle and awarded the other team the ball.
Is this correct? Does anyone know for sure the correct call on this?
I looked up the FIBA rules on this and all it says is the player must place both feet out of the restricted area to be outside the 3 second rule.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Rule doesn't apply if you step outside the court. You have to be inbounds and step out of the key with both feet for the count to be reset.

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Naph
Years ago

26.1.3. To establish himself outside the restricted area, the player must place both feet on
the floor outside the restricted area.

I think you will find that "floor" in this case is the "playing floor" (everywhere that is within the boundary lines).

Every ref I've ever questioned on this has given me the same answer as you have received. You're not considered out of the key by stepping out of bounds along the baseline.

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Just Very Old
Years ago

I can be corrected but I seem to remember that A player i also supposed to ask permission to leave the floor, AND , more importantly, is not able to go outside the playing area, and doing so in order to gain an advantage that is outside the rules can also be argued is grounds for a teck.

At least the fascist old school referee that I had to put up with in the 1980 used to try both those calls when he had the proverbials with a player.

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koberulz
Years ago

Yeah, I've also heard the 'illegal to go out of bounds to gain an advantage' rule, but that was back when they had the trapezoid lanes, so you couldn't have the key extending indefinitely without serious amounts of guesswork.

The baseline is explicitly not part of the restricted area, though, so I can't imagine the out-of-bounds area is.

Neither the rulebook nor the official interpretations deal with this case, though.

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Dazz
Years ago

Makes perfect sense. That's why players cut across from one side to the other. Otherwise you could simply camp out behind the baseline waiting for the right moment to step in.

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Blah
Years ago

Yes. It is deemed to be gaining an unfair advantage to step outside the baseline so you have not left the key.

But yes, it can be a technical for leaving the court without permission but you must leave the key on the court for the count to reset.

But silly rule it is the defenses job to play defense, not the referees

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Question on the 3 second key rule

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