OK, they’re not admitting that the changes are being  made just for LeBron James, but it’s pretty clear he’s probably the impetus behind a recent announcement that the NBA will investigate re-writing its traveling rules,  a modification that would make the “crab dribble” legal once again.

(A classic LeBron “crab dribble”, soon to be legal.)

The clearest indication that the rule is being pushed by James infamous tirade after he was called for travelling despite a “crab dribble” is  the claim that the league may officially allow two steps instead of one. That would pave the way to recognize the crab dribble as a legitimate move, since it requires, at best, two steps. Of course, nearly every drive down an NBA lane includes two steps at this point, so legalizing that probably just means that  NBA players will be upset if they’re called for travelling for three steps next year, but that’s another story.

Here’s what the NBA’s vide president of referee operations, Joe Borgia, told the blog TRUEHOOP:

“We’re working on it. Our traveling rule we’ve been discussing for a couple of years,” he said. “The game has evolved. I don’t think the rule has evolved since the time of Bob Cousy. But we’re also going to probably share it with the NCAA and maybe FIBA, because it would be nice if we could all come up with a similar rule. A similar rule would be great for the players, the coaches, and the officials.”

Naturally, LeBron is pushing for the move to go through, as he told the CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER.

“That would be good, I could get my move back,” James said of the potential rule changes. “They stole my move. I’ve gotten used to knowing that you have to land on two feet.”

Brian Windhorst, who wrote the PLAIN DEALER piece, cites James’ speed and size as primary reasons why he’s called out for travelling when others often aren’t, an explanation that explains why he’d be so supportive of the rule change. Of course, he could have just written that James is sick of being called for travelling when no one else is. That works too, doesn’t it?

“Sometimes it is called right and sometimes it isn’t, but they’ll figure it out,” James said.

It’s interesting how an NBA player, albeit a star, is allowed to say that the officials need to figure out how to chance a rule, rather than the idea that he might need to figure out how to adjust, isn’t it?