The Court

The Basketball court is covered in countless lines but does each line on the court actually mean something?

Yes, every line on a basketball court has a purpose. Not all the lines or marks on the court are actually related to play on the court, however.

If you look at the image above you will see the “X” marked by the red “A” that is at the center line right in front of the scorers’ table. This is required to be on every basketball court to designate the spot where substitutes are to report before being beckoned onto the court. Substitutes are allowed to enter the game on all dead ball situations, which means when an official has blown his whistle to stop play.

Next, we will stay on the same side of the court and discuss the coaching box. This image is based on the NCAA court dimensions, so the coaching box for High School is a little different. In High School the coaching box is 14 feet long whereas the College coaching box is 28 feet long.. However the coaching box starts in the same location for both High School and College, If you look at the picture you can see a line (marked by the red “B”) where the coaching box starts, as you can see it is 28 feet away from the baseline. This line is called the 28 foot mark.

The rectangles marked in orange are what we call “the lane” or “the paint.” The lane will be explained more in upcoming posts because it is an important part of the game and certain rules apply specifically to this area.

Finally, the last marking on the court I want to cover is the center line, also know as the mid-court line, the time line, and the half-court line. This line is marked by the red “C” and it is important to the game because it separates the court into an offensive half and a defensive half. On one side you prevent the opponent from scoring and on the other you try to score.

The lines and areas on the court that I have mentioned are the lines and areas that people usually disregard. The rest of the lines on the court, like the three point arc and the foul line, come into play on a regular basis and are more known than the 28 foot mark and the center X.

Please leave any questions you have about the basketball court in the comments sections below.