in a recent game,( I was not officiating) A1 took the ball out after made basket by B. B is pressuring full court. A1 cannot find anyone open so A2 steps out of bounds down the end line and A1 passes to him who then inbounds to A3. Legal?? I know it is legal to pass to another player out of bounds in this situation, but does the player without the ball need to be out of bounds prior to the ball becoming live?

Perfectly legal.

Z

As long as the player receives the ball completely out of bounds, this is legal.

Now if A2 goes airborne from inbounds, catches the ball while airborne, and then lands out of bounds, that would be a violation. Reason being because the player is considered on the part of the floor they last touched.

Peace

To further clarify, the violation in JRut's situation would be for going out of bounds - it's not a throw-in violation.

Actually, I believe it could be either kind of violation depending on where A2 catches the ball.

If the ball has not crossed the plane into the court when A2 catches the ball, it is a throw-in violation as soon as A2 touches the ball for not throwning the ball into the court.

If the ball has crossed the plane when A2 catches the ball, then we have a legal throw-in. If A2 then lands out of bounds and is still holding the ball, we have an out of bounds violation.

Do we need to get lawyers involved? You guys are making this awfully complicated. :D
Z

Sorry Lotto, you're wrong. Since it is legal to pass the ball to an out of bounds player, the thrower is not required to pass the ball directly onto the court. This is not a throw-in violation in any way. Just as Dexter put it. It only matters because it determines where the inbound for team B will be. This situation would never occur on an AP throw-in.

Well, let's be nice. Lotto is indeed incorrect on this specific play. He would be correct for a designated spot throw-in, though.
Here's the rule: 9-2-3 The thrower shall not: ...Pass the ball so it is touched by a teammate while the ball is on the out-of-bounds side of the throw-in boundary-line plane (except as in 7-5-7).

It that last exception which makes it only an OOB violation and not a throw-in violation on a thrown-in that the team has the ability to run the endline.

I think what you're asking is whether the second player needs to be out of bounds (or "out of bounce", as my 6-year-old calls it) before the ball is available to the initial thrower-in. I think the answer is no. however, the second player to be oob does need to have touched oob and not be touching inbounds before he/she receives the ball, as others have said.

And just to add another twist, I don't believe it's limited to two players...as long as they don't exceed the original 5 second count....

Does A1 have to immediately return inbounds after he passes the ball to A2?