Basketball is one of the most popular spectator and team sports in the United States. But in order to play basketball, you'll need a few items of equipment. Basketball leagues such as the NBA regulate the size, measurements and placement of equipment on the basketball court in order to standardize the way the game is played.
The Ball
The basketball used in the NBA is made of leather and is regulated to be 29-1/2 inches in circumference, with between 7-1/2 to 8-1/2 lbs. of pressure. The ball has a pebbled surface with several black ribs making up the panels of the basketball.
The NBA previously experimented with a synthetic material basketball, but abandoned it after only a few months after player complaints.
Goal
The basketball goal in the NBA is a rectangle made of transparent material and measures 6 feet tall by 3-1/2 feet wide. A white rectangle measuring 18 inches tall by 24 inches wide is painted on the backboard above the rim to aid players in banking the ball into the basket.
The rim is a circle 18 inches in diameter and is attached in the middle of the bottom part of the backboard. A net is attached to the rim to check the ball as it passes through.
Court
The standard NBA court is 94 feet long and 50 feet wide, divided in two by a half-court line with a circle 12 feet in diameter in the center for jump balls. The lanes on either side of the court are rectangles measuring 19 feet long by 16 feet wide. All courts in the NBA are equipped with a 3-point line that consists of a semicircle 23 feet and 9 inches from the center of the hoop that is intersected by two lines that come up from either side of the basket from the baseline and are 3 feet inside either sideline.
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