Basketball Court Dimensions

Basketball courts come in a range of different sizes, however some features remain the same, such as the size and height of the basket and the distance from the basket to the free throw line.

This guide was written to assist those that are planning the creation of a basketball court in Australia, with court line markings based on either FIBA, NCAA or NBA regulation size court dimensions. In Australia, the National Basketball League (NBL) uses FIBA regulations and rules, including total court size and court line markings such as the free throw and three point lines. Thus we recommend sticking to FIBA court dimensions for Australian Basketball courts.

 

Basketball court dimensions in metres!

If you're looking for court sizes & line markings in metres, you're in luck...

Whether you're intending to build a small "custom sized backyard half court" or a "FIBA regulation 3X3 half court" all the way to an "NBA sized full court", you've come to the right place to get all the metric dimensions you’ll need for your chosen line markings.

 

Basketball Court Sections

It'll help to know the various areas of a court before proceeding - refer to this picture...

 

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So how big is a basketball court?

The International basketball Federation (FIBA) rules, dictate that

A full size FIBA regulation size basketball court measures exactly 28 by 15 meters.

In the National basketball Association (NBA), the court is 28.7 by 15.2 metres.

In Australia, backyard half-courts generally start in size from about 7metres in height to fit the "free-throw line" (or 9m to fit the "three-point line") and 4 or 5 metres in width and upwards. Other popular sizes include; 9m x 5m, 10m x 7m and the FIBA 3x3 regulation sized 15m x 11m half court.

 

Basketball Court Lines

All lines should be 5cm in width and should be painted in a single colour throughout (usually white).

 

Hoop

In amateur basketball, court sizes can vary widely. One thing that remains identical on all basketball courts are the baskets (also known as hoops) are always 3.05 m (10ft) above the floor (except in some youth competitions).

 

Three Point Arc

The FIBA regulation three point arc is 6.75 m away from the basket. Any shot made outside of the three point arc is worth three points instead of the normal two. The distance from the hoop to the three point arc varies for under different regulations:

Basketball courts have a three-point arc at both baskets. The three point line is not part of the three-point field goal area.

 

 

Free Throw Line

The free-throw line is 4.6m from the backboard. This is an important measurement for backyard basketball court construction, although the key width (3.6m) is often shrunken to fit the space without effecting gameplay , the key height (specifically the distance of free throw line to the backboard) should be maintained at 4.6 metres in order to effectively practice regulation free throw shooting at home.

 

No-Charge Semi-Circle (Restricted Area)

The no-charge semi-circle lines consist of a semi-cicle with a radius of 1.25m measured from the point on the floor directly under the exact centre of the basket to the inner edge of the semi-circle. The semi-circle is joined to two parallel lines perpendicular to the endlines, 0.375m in length and ending 1.20m from the inner edge of the endline.

Basketball Court Measurement Table

* The NBA three-point line is 0.91 m from the sideline in a zone starting at the baseline and ending when it crosses the 7.24 m arc. The 6.70 m distance exists only at the points on the three-point line that are directly to the left and right of the basket centre.

† The FIBA three-point line is 0.90 m from the sideline in a zone starting at the baseline and ending when it crosses the 6.75 m arc. The 6.60 m distance exists only at the points on the three-point line that are directly to the left and right of the basket centre.

The NBA, the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations dictate that the free-throw line is 4.57 m horizontally from the plane of the front of the backboard.