why was the key widened in basketball?

Question

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

Answer 1

I’ve always heard the it was because Wilt Chamberlain could straddle the old key. I know it changed around the time he came up but I don’t know if this is true.