NBA Uniform Regulations

Dreamt up by a schoolteacher named James Naismith, basketball first appeared in 1891. When Naismith instructed students to toss a soccer ball into a peach basket, his game had just 13 rules. More than a century later, his brainstorm has become an enormously successful industry, and the official NBA Rule Book for the 2009 to 2010 season is 62 pages long. It governs everything from what players can say to what they can wear.

  1. Active Players

    • All players must be uniformly dressed with their shirts tucked in. Only a player's shoes may contain commercial (non-NBA) insignias. Each player must wear a jersey with a solid-colored number on the front and back. The number's color must contrast with that of the jersey. The numbers, themselves, must be at least three-quarters of an inch wide and six inches tall. Each player's surname must appear on the back of his jersey, and the letters should stand no less than two inches tall. Except on rare occasions, the home team wears light-colored jerseys and the away team wears dark-colored jerseys.

    Non-Active Players

    • The NBA player dress code, posted on NBA.com in October of 2005, contains specific regulations for players not participating in a game. If a player is present at, but not playing in, a game, he must wear a sport coat and nice shoes. Players must wear business casual attire (dress shirt, dress pants or khakis and nice shoes) when involved in any NBA business. Unless wearing a team warm-up outfit, players must adhere to this rule when leaving an NBA arena as well. Special team events constitute an exception to this policy, as they may require players to wear something other than business casual for promotional or safety reasons. Shorts, chains, medallions, pendants, sleeveless shirts and sunglasses indoors are not allowed under any circumstances. Players may only use headphones on team transportation or in the team locker room. Unless specifically appropriate to the team or situation, T-shirts, sports apparel and headgear are not allowed.

    Coaches

    • Every coach and assistant coach present at a game must wear either a suit coat or a sport coat.