Basketball Rules of the Game

Lessons

Senior 6 · Physical Education

Basketball Rules of the Game

5 lessons

Lesson 1 of 5

Basic rules: the court, the team and starting the game

25 min

From thirteen rules to fifty-one articles

When James Naismith invented basketball in 1891 he wrote thirteen rules on two typed pages. The FIBA Official Basketball Rules 2026, which took effect worldwide on 1 October 2026, have 51 articles and six appendices. Every national federation affiliated to FIBA, including the Rwanda Basketball Federation (FERWABA), plays by them. This unit studies those rules at the level of a player, a coach and a referee. This first lesson covers the court, the team, the playing time and how the game starts and restarts.

Definition

Backcourt: a team's own basket, the inbounds part of its backboard and its half of the court, including the centre line.

Frontcourt: the opponents' basket and backboard and the half of the court beyond the centre line.

Restricted area: the marked rectangle under each basket, from the end line to the free-throw line.

Jump ball: a referee tosses the ball up between two opponents in the centre circle.

Alternating possession (AP): the method of restarting every later jump-ball situation with a throw-in, given to the teams in turn as shown by the AP arrow.

The court

Marking	Measurement (FIBA 2026)
Court	28 m × 15 m, measured from the inner edge of the boundary lines; floor at least 32 m × 19 m
Lines	5 cm wide; boundary lines are not part of the court; the centre line belongs to the backcourt
Centre circle and free-throw semi-circles	Radius 1.80 m to the outer edge
Free-throw line	3.60 m long; far edge 5.80 m from the inner edge of the end line
Restricted area	4.90 m wide (outer edges 2.45 m each side of the mid-line), from end line to free-throw line
3-point line	Arc of radius 6.75 m from the point on the floor under the centre of the basket (1.575 m from the end line), joined to straight lines 0.90 m from the sidelines. The line is not part of the 3-point area
No-charge semi-circle	Radius 1.30 m from the point under the basket
Throw-in lines	0.15 m long, outside the sideline opposite the scorer's table, 8.325 m from the nearest end line
Ring and ball	Top of the ring 3.05 m above the floor; size 7 ball for men, size 6 for women

The team and the playing time

A team has no more than 12 team members entitled to play (one is the captain), a head coach, and up to 8 accompanying delegation members, including assistant coaches.
Five players of each team are on the court. Substitutions are unlimited: a substitute reports to the timer and enters when a referee beckons.
A team member with 5 fouls becomes an excluded player and may no longer play.
Uniform: shirts and shorts of the same dominant colour, shirts tucked in, numbers 0, 00 and 1 to 99 (no two alike). The first-named (home) team wears light shirts. Jewellery, hair accessories, hard guards and long nails are not allowed.
The game is 4 quarters of 10 minutes, with 2-minute intervals after the first and third quarters and before each overtime, and a 15-minute half-time. A tie after the fourth quarter is broken by as many 5-minute overtimes as needed.
Time-outs last 1 minute: 2 in the first half, 3 in the second half (at most 2 of them when the game clock shows 2:00 or less in the fourth quarter) and 1 in each overtime. Unused time-outs are lost at the end of the half.

Starting and restarting the game

The first quarter starts with a jump ball in the centre circle. Each jumper stands with both feet in the half of the circle nearer to his or her own basket, one foot close to the centre line. The crew chief tosses the ball vertically, higher than either can reach. It may be tapped only after it starts to come down, and neither jumper may catch it or tap it more than twice before it touches a non-jumper or the floor. The other players stay off the circle until the tap.

After that, the game never uses a jump ball again. In every jump-ball situation (a held ball, a ball out of bounds when the referees cannot agree who touched it last, a ball lodged between ring and backboard, and the start of every later quarter) the teams take turns with a throw-in. The team that did not gain control after the opening jump ball gets the first alternating-possession throw-in. The arrow on the scorer's table points to the basket that the next entitled team attacks, and it is reversed as soon as that throw-in ends.

A throw-in is taken from out of bounds where the referee indicates; the thrower has 5 seconds to release the ball. Quarters after the first begin with a throw-in from the centre line extended, opposite the scorer's table.

Worked example

Worked example 1: following the arrow. Team A wins the opening tap.

Team B did not gain control, so the arrow points in Team B's direction of attack.
In the first quarter a held ball occurs between A4 and B7. Team B takes the throw-in; when it ends, the arrow is reversed towards Team A.
No other jump-ball situation happens before the end of the quarter. The second quarter begins with Team A's throw-in from the centre line extended, opposite the scorer's table; the arrow then reverses to Team B.

Worked example

Worked example 2: counting time-outs. Team A takes a time-out in the third quarter and another with 3:10 left in the fourth quarter. With 1:45 left, its coach wants two more.

Second-half allowance: 3 time-outs. Already used: 2. Left: 1.
The limit of 2 in the last two minutes does not bite here, because only one remains.
Decision: one more time-out is possible. A tie at the end would bring an overtime with 1 new time-out for each team.

Video: "Rules of the Game - Basketball - FIBA", FIBA Basketball. An overview of the game from FIBA itself; some details may come from an earlier edition of the rules, so check them against the 2026 tables in this lesson.

Tip

Coaching point. Use the second-half rule on time-outs as a plan, not a surprise: a coach who has used all three by the middle of the fourth quarter cannot stop the clock to set up a last play.

Warning

Common mistakes and safety. The 3-point line itself is inside the 2-point area: a foot on it makes a 2-point shot. The centre line is part of the backcourt. Benches, chairs and people must be at least 2 m from the court; on an outdoor school court, sweep away gravel and water before play, and pad or clear any wall close to the end lines.

✦

Practice

Give the length and width of a FIBA court and say from which edge of the lines they are measured.
State the radius of the 3-point arc and where it is measured from.
How many team members may a team enter on the scoresheet, and how many play at once?
Describe the positions of the two jumpers at the opening jump ball.
Team B gains control after the opening jump ball. Who takes the first alternating-possession throw-in?
In the second half Team A has used no time-outs. With 1:30 left in the fourth quarter, how many may it take before the end of regulation time?
The score is tied at the end of the fourth quarter. Describe what happens next, including time-outs and team fouls.
Explain why a 3-point line with straight parts 0.90 m from the sidelines is needed on a 15 m wide court. (Hint: compute the distance of the arc's widest point from the mid-line.)

Show answersHide answers

28 m × 15 m, from the inner edge of the boundary lines.
6.75 m, from the point on the floor directly under the centre of the basket (1.575 m from the end line).
Up to 12; five on the court.
Both feet inside the half of the centre circle nearer their own basket, one foot close to the centre line.
Team A, the team that did not gain control.
Two: three are allowed in the second half, but at most two when the clock shows 2:00 or less in the fourth quarter.
A 5-minute overtime, as many as needed until the tie is broken; each team gets 1 time-out per overtime; teams play towards the same baskets as in the fourth quarter; team fouls in overtime count as fourth-quarter fouls.
The court is 7.5 m from the mid-line to each sideline. A full arc of radius 6.75 m would come within 0.75 m of the sideline at its widest point, too tight for a player's feet; so the arc is cut off where it is 0.90 m from the sideline and joined to straight lines.

Remember

Court 28 m × 15 m; 3-point arc 6.75 m; free-throw line 5.80 m; restricted area 4.90 m wide; ring 3.05 m.
12 team members, 5 on court, unlimited substitutions, 5 fouls and out.
4 × 10 min; 5-min overtimes; time-outs 2 + 3 (max 2 in the last 2 minutes) + 1 per overtime.
Jump ball only at the start; then alternating possession by the arrow.

Sources and credits

Official Basketball Rules 2026 (version 1.1, July 2026), Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA): Articles 1 to 19 summarised, not copied.
Official Basketball Rules 2026: Basketball Equipment, FIBA: ring height and ball sizes.
James Naismith, Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted by Ganzaa.
Photo: Rwanda men's national basketball team, Moses Nyambo Rugira, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Video: "Rules of the Game - Basketball - FIBA", FIBA Basketball, embedded from YouTube.
Court diagram, tables, worked examples and practice: written by Ganzaa.

This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1From thirteen rules to fifty-one articles

2The court

3The team and the playing time

4Starting and restarting the game

From thirteen rules to fifty-one articles

The court

The team and the playing time

Starting and restarting the game