Basketball

Overview

Two teams of five try to shoot a ball through the opponents' hoop, mounted 10 feet above the floor. Most points at the final buzzer wins.

This entry is checked against the FIBA Official Basketball Rules 2026, approved by the FIBA Central Board in Berlin on 23 April 2026 and valid from 1 October 2026. The biggest change from the 2024 edition is that the unsportsmanlike foul no longer exists — see section 5. Article numbers below are FIBA's own. NBA and NCAA differences are noted where they are substantial, but those figures have not been checked against an NBA or NCAA rulebook — treat them as orientation, not citation.

1. The court and clock

Element	FIBA	NBA
Court	28m × 15m	94ft × 50ft (28.7m × 15.2m)
Hoop height	3.05m (10ft)	3.05m (10ft)
Three-point line	Arc of 6.75m; corner lines 0.90m inside each sideline (6.60m from the basket)	7.24m, 6.7m in the corners
Free-throw line	Outer edge 5.80m from the inner edge of the endline, 3.60m long	4.6m from the backboard
Game length	4 × 10 min	4 × 12 min
Ball, men	Size 7: 750–770mm, 580–620g	—
Ball, women	Size 6: 715–730mm, 510–550g	—

Men and women play the same FIBA game with one difference: the ball. FIBA's equipment rules require a size 7 ball for all men's competitions and a size 6 for all women's — about 5% smaller around and 70g lighter. The court, hoop height, three-point line, clock and every playing rule are the same. The word "women" does not appear in the playing rules at all; the ball size is set in the separate Basketball Equipment document.

NCAA men play two 20-minute halves; NCAA women play four 10-minute quarters.

Overtime is 5 minutes, repeated until someone leads at the end of a period.

The clock stops on every whistle. It restarts when a player on court touches the ball after a throw-in or a missed free throw.

2. Scoring

Shot	Points
Field goal inside the arc	2
Field goal beyond the arc	3
Free throw	1

A shooter's feet must be entirely behind the line for three. Touching the line makes it two. The determining moment is the take-off, not the landing — a player may drift over the line in the air.

A shot released before the buzzer counts, even if it goes in afterwards.

3. The shot clock

The attacking team must release a shot that touches the rim within:

• 24 seconds from gaining possession
• 14 seconds after an offensive rebound, or after certain fouls in the front court

Failing to do so is a violation and the ball goes over.

4. Violations

Travelling. Moving the pivot foot illegally while holding the ball. A player who gathers the ball while moving may take two steps before releasing it, passing or shooting. The gather itself is not a step.

Double dribble. Dribbling, stopping, then dribbling again. Or dribbling with both hands simultaneously.

Carrying. Allowing the hand to come under the ball and momentarily bring it to rest during a dribble.

Eight seconds. The offence must advance the ball from the back court to the front court within eight seconds.

Back court. Once established in the front court, the ball may not be returned across the halfway line by the attacking team.

Three seconds. An offensive player may not remain in the restricted area — the key — for three consecutive seconds while their team has the ball in the front court.

Five seconds. A closely guarded player must pass, shoot or dribble within five seconds. A throw-in must be released within five.

Goaltending. Touching the ball on its downward flight toward the hoop, while it is on the rim, or within the imaginary cylinder above the hoop.

Basket interference. Touching the ball or rim while the ball is on the rim or in the cylinder.

5. Fouls

Personal fouls

Illegal contact. A player is disqualified after five personal fouls in FIBA and NCAA, six in the NBA.

A player fouled while shooting receives:

• Two free throws if the shot was inside the arc and missed
• Three if it was beyond the arc and missed
• One if the shot was made — the "and one"

Team fouls and the bonus

The FIBA threshold is four, not five. Article 42.1.1:

A team is in the team foul penalty situation after it has committed 4 team fouls in a quarter.

So the fifth foul of the quarter is already punished. From that point every personal foul on a player not in the act of shooting gives the opposition two free throws instead of a throw-in, and the player who was fouled takes them (42.2.1).

Two details that get missed:

• Fouls committed during an interval count against the following quarter (42.1.2), and fouls in overtime count against the fourth quarter (42.1.3) — so a team already in the penalty carries it into every overtime.
• A foul by the team in control of the ball is still just a throw-in to the opponents, penalty situation or not (42.2.2).

NBA and NCAA thresholds differ; see the caveat in the overview.

Other fouls

From 1 October 2026 there is no such thing as an unsportsmanlike foul in FIBA basketball. It has been split in two, and technical fouls have been split into two categories, so that tactical fouls stop costing players the game:

Type	What it is	Counts towards disqualification?
Disruptive foul (Art. 37)	Unnecessary contact to stop a fast break, to stop the clock late in a quarter, or from behind or the side on a player with a clear run to the basket	No
Flagrant foul (Art. 38)	Not a legitimate basketball play; reckless, violent or dangerous; or excessive hard contact	Yes
Technical, category 1 (Art. 36)	Behavioural — disrespect to officials or opponents, taunting, faking a foul, swinging elbows	Yes
Technical, category 2 (Art. 36)	Administrative — delaying the game, hanging on the ring, goaltending the last free throw	No
Disqualifying foul (Art. 39)	Flagrantly unsporting behaviour; player ejected	Immediate
Offensive foul	Committed by the team with the ball, e.g. charging	—

Disruptive and flagrant fouls both carry free throws plus possession: two free throws (or the shooting-foul equivalent), then a throw-in from the frontcourt throw-in line.

A player is disqualified for the rest of the game on two flagrant fouls, two category 1 technicals, or one of each (Art. 38.2.3). Disruptive fouls and category 2 technicals never count towards it, however many a player collects.

6. Defence

Legal guarding position requires both feet on the floor and the torso facing the opponent. Once established, the defender may move laterally or backward and still be legal.

A charge is offensive contact with a defender who had legal position. A block is contact by a defender who did not. The distinction turns on whether the defender was set before the offensive player began their upward motion.

FIBA uses "restricted area" to mean the rectangular key, not the arc under the basket — that arc is the no-charge semi-circle, and its radius is 1.30m measured from the point beneath the centre of the basket. It is where a secondary defender cannot draw a charge.

7. Restarts and possession

Jump ball starts the game. Thereafter FIBA and the NBA use the alternating possession arrow for held balls; the NBA still uses jump balls in some situations.

After a made basket, the conceding team restarts from the baseline and may run along it.

Kicking, and passing to yourself

Kicking is a violation only when deliberate. Intentionally striking the ball with any part of the leg or foot stops play. Incidental contact — the ball hitting a leg during a pass or rebound — is not a violation.

You cannot pass to yourself. Throwing the ball and catching it before it touches another player, the floor or the rim is travelling, or a double dribble if you had already dribbled.

The exception is a shot: if the ball hits the rim, it is live again and you may rebound your own attempt.

Commonly argued

• There is no unsportsmanlike foul any more. From October 2026 it is a disruptive foul (tactical, doesn't count towards ejection) or a flagrant foul (does).
• Women play with a size 6 ball. Everything else in FIBA basketball is the same.
• The three-point line is not part of the three-point area (Rule 2.5.4), so a shot from on the line is worth two. Both feet must clear it entirely.
• The backboard is in play. Only the back and supports are out.
• Two steps are legal, and always have been. The "gather" that precedes them is not counted, which is why it looks like three.
• You may touch the ball above the rim — on the way up. Goaltending only applies once it starts descending, or is on the rim.
• The shot counts if released before the buzzer, judged by the ball leaving the hand, not by the ball going in.
• A foul on a made three-pointer is one free throw, not three.