Basketball court dimensions and the three-point line

Basketball court dimensions under international rules: the court is 28 metres long and 15 metres wide, and the rim sits 3.05 metres above the floor. The three-point line is 6.75 metres from the basket along its arc, but only 6.60 metres in the two corners, where it runs straight, 0.90 metres in from the sideline. That makes the corner three the shortest three-pointer on the court. This guide covers the lines of the court, their measurements, and the pieces that come from them.

Length and width

An international court is a rectangle 28 metres long and 15 metres wide, split by the centre line, with a centre circle 3.6 metres across where the game starts with a jump ball. Each half has a basket on a backboard, its rim 3.05 metres up: ten feet.

The key and the free-throw line

Under each basket is a rectangle called the restricted area or the key, 4.9 metres wide and 5.8 metres long from the end line. Its far edge is the free-throw line, which a player stands behind to take free throws.

The three-point line

Any made shot from behind this line counts for three points. Along the arc, the line is 6.75 metres from the point directly below the centre of the basket. But the court is only 15 metres wide, 7.5 metres from the middle to each side, so an arc at that distance would run almost onto the sideline. Instead, the line runs straight out from the end line, 0.90 metres in from the sideline, until it meets the arc.

Why is the corner three shorter?

Along that straight stretch, the line is 6.60 metres from the basket, fifteen centimetres closer than the arc. That is why attacking sides love the corner three: a shorter shot from a spot that is easy to reach with a pass out of the paint. The space is tight, though: a foot on the sideline puts the ball out of bounds.

That shot is our Corner Three: a basketball half court in thread, with one dotted line for a three from the corner. Small and exact, a mark you notice up close, on caps, beanies, fleece shorts, a ringer tee and bags.

The half court, where most of the game is played

Each half is 14 metres long and 15 metres wide, and holds everything an attack needs: the basket, the key, the free-throw line and the three-point arc. That is why street games and practice so often use a half court, and why our embroidered designs show the half court rather than the whole: it is the space everyone who has played knows, and one line is enough to tell the whole shot.

To keep the embroidery clear in a small area on a cap or a beanie, we cut the court down to its main lines and leave a single dotted line for the path of the ball.

The court on our pieces

Backdoor puts a small stitched basketball above three short strokes and a baseline at the chest of tees, crewnecks, hoodies and zip jackets, with a crayon hoop, net and ball on the back of the heavyweight tee and the front of the tank. Give and Go stitches a basketball on a dashed arc into the hoop, with a crayon wooden court on the back of the tee, or a fine chalk-line pass, return and run on long sleeves. From the embroidered People of the Game figures come Swish, the shot that touches only the net, and Crossover, the change of hands that opens the lane: knees bent, the ball low beside the foot, a 7 on an orange vest. Both are machine embroidered at the centre of the chest, with the face left blank so the player can be anyone who lives the game.

Every basketball piece is in the basketball collection. We never use the name or logo of any team or league, and each piece is made for you after you order, with free shipping.