Generally speaking, each team is made up of five designated positions: shooting guard, small forward, point guard, power forward and center. Team players are assigned their position based on a number of factors such as physique, ball handling, passing and shooting skills.

Each player has a specific role on the team, so understanding your place on the court is crucial if you want to become better at playing basketball. The core basketball positions on the court are the point guard (PG), shooting guard (SG), power forward (PF), small forward (SF) and center (C).

Traditional Basketball Positions Explained A team may use any five-player combination at any given time. A coach may even use multiple players from the same position simultaneously! However, for balance and strategy, a team fields the five traditional basketball positions: point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, and center.

Basketball Positions A basketball team can have a lot of players, but only five can play in a game at any one time. Players in a basketball game have assigned basketball positions: center, power forward, small forward, point guard, and shooting guard.

The 5 basic basketball positions It’s still important to know and teach youth basketball players positions – their locations and jobs on the court. There are five players on the court at a time, and they can be in any of the following positions: point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward and center.