NBA Basketball Rules

The rules of the National Basketball Association have been in place since the league began operations in 1949. These rules and regulations are upheld by the three referees on the court and other officials in attendance at NBA games. Some aspects of the NBA rules differ from those of college basketball and the women's game and have changed over the years.

  1. Differences

    • In college basketball, the offensive team has 35 seconds to shoot or it will lose possession to the defense. In the NBA, a 24-second clock dictates play, with the professionals having to shoot the ball-- and have it at least hit the rim of the basket--within that time span. An NBA game has four quarters, 12 minutes each. College games are divided into 20-minute halves. A player who is assessed five personal fouls is disqualified in a college game; it takes six fouls to foul out in the NBA.

    Significance

    • When play first commenced in the NBA, there was no 24-second clock. Players had to commit fouls to get the ball back at the end of close games. In 1950, the league adopted a rule requiring that after a made free throw in the final three minutes of a game there would be a jump ball involving the player who was fouled and the player who committed the foul. In theory, it would have eliminated deliberate fouling at the end of a game because a foul no longer guaranteed possession. The NBA updated the jump-ball rule in 1952. The player who was fouled and the player assigned to guard him faced off on the jump ball. Later, the 24-second clock eliminated the need for these types of rules.

    History

    • The three-second lane, an area between the foul line and the basket in which an offensive player cannot be for more than three seconds without the ball, was originally just six feet wide. The dominance of the Lakers' George Mikan led to the lane being widened to 12 feet in 1951. Wilt Chamberlain's greatness contributed to it being further widened to 16 feet in 1964. The NBA added a 3-point line for the 1979 season. Players who scored from beyond 22 feet in the corners of the court and 23 feet and 9 inches straight away were awarded three points.

    Size

    • An NBA court must be 94 feet in length. The court has to be 50 feet wide and there has to be a 28-foot long bench area on the sidelines for each team. The rim is set at a height of 10 feet, and the distance from the free throw line to the front of the backboard must be 15 feet.

    Expert Insight

    • The rules of the WNBA also vary from those of the NBA. The women's game has a 3-point line that is 19 feet, 9 inches from the basket. There are two 20-minute halves and a 30-second shot clock in WNBA games. The lane is only 12 feet wide.