DONOVAN MITCHELL WAS in a difficult spot.
Midway through the fourth quarter of a home game against the Sacramento Kings on February 5, 2024, Mitchell`s Cleveland Cavaliers held a double-digit lead. However, the six-time All-Star found himself trapped after executing a pick-and-roll with big man Jarrett Allen. Mitchell drove towards the key with defender Kevin Huerter trailing, stopped his dribble, and saw an open lane to pass to Allen. But Domantas Sabonis blocked the pass, leaving Mitchell stranded on his pivot foot near the free throw line with the ball.
Huerter caught up and pressured Mitchell, who attempted several fakes and pivot moves without success. The shot clock was winding down. With Huerter preventing a move to his right hand and Sabonis crowding Allen to deny an easy pass, Mitchell – running out of time and options – deployed one final maneuver: He threw the ball off the backboard to himself, leaping to execute a self-assisted dunk.
“There`s really no plan,” Mitchell later explained to ESPN. “You`re just stuck with nowhere to go. You`re trying to figure it out.”
Similarly, Ja Morant improvised when he found himself airborne during the Memphis Grizzlies` recent play-in game against the Golden State Warriors. After jumping and not having a good look at the hoop, he instinctively threw the ball off the glass, then caught it on the other side of the rim for a layup, almost like an in-game version of the Mikan drill.
The “self alley-oop” was once a rare sight, a move most fans and players associate with a few legends from the early 2000s who used it either out of desperation or to create spectacular highlights. But over the years, the play has evolved beyond its flashy origins and is now increasingly used strategically by some of the game`s most athletic and creative stars. And its true tactical roots actually go back almost as far as the NBA itself.
HALL OF FAMER Tracy McGrady`s forceful self alley-oop during the 2002 All-Star Game was many NBA fans` first exposure to this highlight-reel play. McGrady capitalized on the All-Star Game`s relaxed style, tossing the ball off the glass from beyond the free throw line and taking off from the inner free throw circle for an uncontested slam.
Several of McGrady`s high-flying peers, including Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant, also famously utilized the move. But so did someone considerably less flamboyant.
As a rookie in 1997, Tim Duncan – nicknamed “The Big Fundamental” due to his consistently straightforward play – found himself tightly guarded by Houston Rockets big man Kevin Willis. He threw the ball high off the glass to create space to catch it and finish with a basic two-handed slam, characteristic of his lack of theatrics. This wasn`t Duncan showing off; he was simply caught in a difficult position, saw the backboard as an escape option, and took it. Michael Jordan also used the move as a tactical improvisation with the Bulls in the mid-90s (for a layup, not a dunk).
In stark contrast, both in airtime and bravado, was Shaquille O`Neal`s execution during the 1996 Olympics. O`Neal`s self-oop was a highlight-reel boast, a dominant 300-pound player clowning the opponent on an open fast break.
But the real origins of the play – the use of the backboard as a passing tool – trace back to a pivotal moment in the NBA`s early days.
With mere seconds remaining in double overtime of Game 7 of the 1957 NBA Finals, the St. Louis Hawks trailed Bill Russell`s Boston Celtics by two points. Hawks player-coach Alex Hannum, who hadn`t played in nearly a month, called a timeout and devised a bold play: Hannum would inbound the ball from under his own basket (timeouts didn`t allow advancing the ball then), and toss it the full length of the court off the backboard. Hawks star Bob Pettit was instructed to position himself at the free throw line, catch the carom, and lay the ball in to tie the score.
It nearly succeeded.
Hannum actually hit the backboard from 94 feet away, an impressive feat on its own. The ball also grazed the rim, with Pettit positioned well enough to even catch it in midair to put it back in, but the follow-up shot rolled off the rim.
“I should have made the shot,” Pettit said later, as quoted in a historical account. “Alex`s pass was perfect.”
Video footage exists, though it captures only the moments after Pettit`s miss as the Celtics began celebrating their championship – the first of what would be 11 rings in Russell`s legendary career.
Although not a self alley-oop, this moment clearly paved the way for tactical uses of the backboard beyond simply making a shot. Sixty-five years later, the Ohio Bobcats utilized a similar play to force overtime in a 2022 game. And today, some of the game`s most prominent stars are finding creative and strategic ways to use the backboard for more than just generating highlights.
CELTICS STAR AND 2024 Finals MVP Jaylen Brown`s self alley-oop for a layup earlier this season was practical, much like Duncan`s. Brown saw an opening between himself and the basket and decided midair to abandon his shot attempt and turn it into a pass to himself. His coach wasn`t surprised, whether it was pure improvisation or muscle memory – as he has attempted this play before.
“It`s just a good play,” said coach Joe Mazzulla. “That`s a play that`s been made by great players. It`s legal.”
Multiple individuals in the NBA`s officiating department confirmed the play`s legality, even if it isn`t explicitly detailed in the rulebook.
“The rulebook is pretty clear: You can`t go get your own pass that hasn`t hit the backboard or the rim,” explained Monty McCutchen, NBA senior vice president of referee development and training. “Once it hits the backboard or the rim, that`s pretty clear [that anyone can touch it].”
The play`s rise as a strategic approach has also coincided with players` improved understanding of pivot foot rules and a subsequent increase in “step-through” moves seen across the league. While it often looks like a traveling violation to many casual observers, NBA rules allow players to jump off their pivot foot and land with their nonpivot foot once their dribble is stopped, provided their pivot foot does not touch the floor again before the ball is passed or shot.
More and more players have discovered in recent years just how much space this allows them to cover, even after ending their dribble. The self-oop is one of several plays that has increased in frequency as a result.
Because of the coordination and timing needed to execute it, the self alley-oop may never be common, but some of the league`s top athletes have recognized its value beyond creating highlights. Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo has performed it multiple times, both from the post and on fast breaks. LA Clippers guard Ben Simmons used the move several times earlier in his career, both in the NBA and in college. Morant, Joel Embiid, Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Russell Westbrook, Jamal Murray, and Tyrese Haliburton have all used it in regular games – almost always as a tactic, not a stunt. Even Denver`s Nikola Jokic, known more for skill than verticality, did it for a layup in the 2021 playoffs, proving that the play relies on smarts and savvy just as much as athleticism.
“It can be a weapon,” Mitchell stated. “LeBron has done it in the playoffs.”
Indeed, not just the playoffs – also in the Finals. LeBron James, unsurprisingly, has been among the most frequent users of the self-oop during his career. From All-Star Games to regular season action to the league`s most important contests, James has consistently been willing to use the backboard to assist himself.
However, it is likely Kobe Bryant who serves as the modern pioneer of using the backboard as a mechanism for self-assists. Known for his incredible footwork, Bryant appears to be the first to have grasped the potential space created by the step-through move off a pivot foot and the backboard`s occasional role in facilitating its use. The Lakers icon had a collection of self-oops during his career, suggesting he regularly worked on this specific play.
Bryant clearly saw this as an intelligent play. But sometimes, the line between tactical usage and simply showing off can be blurred.
THE UTAH JAZZ were leading by just six points shortly after halftime of their December 26, 2023, game in San Antonio when Collin Sexton intercepted a pass following a turnover and had an open fast break opportunity.
“I was like, `You know what? Why not,`” Sexton recalled. What came next surprised everyone: an even flashier variation of the self alley-oop, this one bounced off the floor for a 360 dunk.
Although the play seemed to offer no clear tactical advantage beyond what a standard dunk or layup would have provided, Sexton viewed it as a way to energize his teammates.
“It`s like a momentum change,” Sexton explained. “Sometimes that allows the team to get fired up.”
Three minutes after Sexton`s dunk, the Jazz extended their lead from six points to twelve, and they went on to win the game. Whether the play itself served as a galvanizing factor is anyone`s guess, but it seemingly didn`t hurt.
“You better make it,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said, with a dry tone. “But Collin made that dunk. And our team got a kick out of it, mostly because they knew I didn`t love it.
“There`s probably a crowd that`s like, `sanctity of the game, blah blah blah.` I`m not one of those people. But I do recommend that you make it if you`re going for it. Because if you don`t, now we have to do the thing where I`m really mad.”
For his part, Sexton isn`t concerned about that risk. He says he hopes to do it again.
“If I get taken out, I get taken out,” he said with a large grin. “[Coach will] put me back in.”
Whether the self alley-oop is increasing in frequency around the NBA is difficult to prove definitively, as neither the league nor private optical tracking systems specifically record it. Even within simple NBA play-by-play logs, varieties of self-oops seem to be logged inconsistently. Plays like Mitchell`s or Sexton`s, where the player clearly intended to pass to himself from the start, are simply labeled unassisted dunks. But a play like Brown`s, where the ball handler seems to change his plan while in the air, is logged as a missed shot, rebound, and subsequent putback.
Meanwhile, optical tracking systems typically capture these plays as missed shots rebounded by the same player. But even with specialized data requests, such systems currently are unable to differentiate between a self alley-oop and any other play in which a player rebounds his own miss and scores shortly after.
Still, Mazzulla said he and his staff have discussed it as a potential part of a game plan.
“The backboard could be used more in certain situations,” Mazzulla suggested. “On downhill drives, when a smaller player tries to box out a big, if you throw it off the glass, the big player has the height advantage, he can get it.”
However it`s used, the self alley-oop remains a remarkable moment in any NBA game. At its core, one could argue it perfectly embodies the creativity and improvisation that makes basketball such a joy to watch.
“It can be something that`s pretty dope,” Mitchell concluded. “It`s creativity and just improvisation.”