On 15 January 1892, James Naismith published his rules for the game of "Basket Ball" that he invented: The original game played under these rules was quite different from the one played today as there was no … See more

Naismith's original rules did not specify how many players were to be on the court. In 1900, five players became standard, and players that were substituted were not allowed to re-enter the game. Players … See more

The first time restriction on possession of the ball was introduced in 1933, where teams were required to advance the ball over the center line within ten seconds of gaining possession. This rule remained until 2000, when FIBA reduced the requirement to … See more

Dribbling was not part of the original game, but was introduced in 1901. At the time, a player could only bounce the ball once, and could not shoot after he had dribbled. The definition of dribbling became the "continuous passage of the ball" in 1909, allowing more than … See more

Initially, basketball was played with an "ordinary association football (soccer ball), although the sport now uses its own ball. The goal is placed 10 feet (3.05 m) above the court. Originally a basket was used (thus "basket-ball"), so the ball had to be retrieved after each … See more

Originally, there was one umpire to judge fouls and one referee to judge the ball; the tradition of calling one official the "referee" and the other one or two the "umpires" has remained (the NBA, however, uses different terminology, referring to the lead official as "crew … See more

The most recent international rules of basketball were approved 2 February 2014 by FIBA and became effective 1 October of that year.
There are eight rules encompassing 50 articles, covering equipment and facilities, regulations … See more