i know very little about basketball, just the basic rules and enough to follow a game
i recently saw on nostupidquestions that they said that mikan and chamberlain made it so that the key was widened from 3 feet to 12 and then 16
now i’ve read everything i’ve been able to find on wikipedia and the likes and i’ve gathered that there’s something called the three second rule that pertains to the key. but i don’t see how that rule affected/was affected by the enlargement.
also, wikipedia says that the enlargement was to make the game more equal to players of all sizes. and i’ve also read that since both players were so tall, the area was widened.
i can’t for the life of me imagine how/why them being tall centers/pivots has anything to do with the key’s width nor the three second rule. is it because when they defend they’re restricted on where they can be inside the key or something?
someone please dumb this down for me i don’t know what im missing
In: Other
What the other comment said and specifics
George Mikan, then Wilt Chamberlain.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_(basketball)
Dimensions of the key area have varied through the history of the game. The lane used to be only 6 feet wide, better resembling the keyhole of a warded lock. In the NBA, the success near the basket of tall center George Mikan led to widening the lane to 12 feet, and similarly Wilt Chamberlain led to the widening of the lane to 16 feet. Since the 2010 FIBA rule amendments (approved in 2008 and implemented following the 2010 FIBA World Championship[1]), its shape is rectangular for games sanctioned by all three associations, 16 feet (4.9 m) wide for both NBA and FIBA keys, and 12 feet (3.7 m) for NCAA and NAIA keys. Prior to those amendments, the key in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments had been a trapezoidal shape.
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