Structural analysis of assists in top men`s basketball teams

Zadnik, Uroš (author), Erčulj, Frane (author), Štirn, Igor (author)

In basketball, an assist is defined as a pass that leads directly to a teammate scoring. Most studies to date have only considered assists as a statistical variable. We decided to take a closer look at the structure of assists using a sample of the top 16 European national teams participating in the 2022 European Championship. We used Synergy Sports technology to collect the data. In a total of 16 matches, 192 players made 640 assists. The data showed that point guards made 40.5% of all assists, while tall players received the most. Additionally, 57.3% of assists were given from the area above the free throw line and 24.3% from the paint. Assists on the move or off the dribble outnumbered assists while standing. Only slightly more than half (53.8%) of the assists were made with both hands, while there were clear differences between air and bounce passes (80.6% compared to 19.4%). The direct involvement of a third player in scoring a basket after an assist was only 12.5%. Surprisingly, winning teams made on average only one more assist than losing teams, which is probably due to the great equality of the competing teams.

• Language: English
• Keywords: sport, playing positions, game statistics, FIBA, pass, basketball
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FŠ - Faculty of Sport
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 207-218
• Numbering: Vol. 100
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180271
• UDC: 796.323
• ISSN on article: 1899-7562
• DOI: 10.5114/jhk/201220
• COBISS.SI-ID: 261497091
• Publication date in RUL: 05.03.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of human kinetics
• Shortened title: J. human kinet.
• Publisher: Academy of Physical Education in Katowice
• ISSN: 1899-7562
• COBISS.SI-ID: 523215897

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: šport, igralne pozicije, statistika tekem, FIBA, podaja, košarka, ekipni športi, igre z žogo