The average basketball player salary is $51,862. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an business major. It usually takes more than 10 years of experience to become a basketball player. Basketball players with a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What Does a Basketball Player Do

There are certain skills that many basketball players have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed athleticism, dedication and teamwork.

How To Become a Basketball Player

If you're interested in becoming a basketball player, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 74.2% of basketball players have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.5% of basketball players have master's degrees. Even though most basketball players have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Average Salary for a Basketball Player

Basketball Players in America make an average salary of $51,862 per year or $25 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $109,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $24,000 per year.
Average Basketball Player Salary
$51,862 Yearly
$24.93 hourly

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Roles and Types of Basketball Player

There are several types of basketball player, including:

Athlete

Role:

An athlete competes in various sporting competitions. Athletes tend to work with teammates, trainers, coaches, managers, nutritionists, physiologists, and psychologists among others. As an athlete, you can build your career around football, tennis, rugby, golf, motor racing, boxing, athletics, ice hockey, baseball, snooker, and basketball. You may be required to travel for sporting events. After your career, you can decide to become a trainer, coach, manager, sports developer, or pundit.

All that is required of an athlete is a natural talent, determination, strength, fitness, technique, and self-discipline. Although there are no academic requirements for this job, a high school diploma would suffice. Most athletes practice one sport and train virtually every day. Athletes make an average salary of $51,929 per year, equivalent to $24.97 an hour. They earn as high as $96,000 and a low of $19,000.

  • Average Salary: $51,729
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Professional Basketball Player

Role:

A professional basketball player is a paid athlete who plays the sport of basketball.

Professional basketball players are responsible for playing hard on the court in games and in practice and doing their best to represent their team in public. They are obligated to play at their best level in every game they are on the court. They must also report to practice and participate whenever they are scheduled by the coach.

Professional basketball players can play a variety of positions, including point guard, shooting, guard, and power forward. They must be able to perform the necessary skills in all areas of the game, including ball handling, shooting, and passing.

To become a professional basketball player, one must possess great physical fitness and endurance. Running speed and jump height are two crucial factors for any basketball player, and some take special courses aimed at improving the distance they can jump vertically, going as far as walking around with weights on their feet for entire days.

Professional basketball players are traditionally tall as this gives them a competitive advantage in the sport, but some shorter players have also managed to find success in the leagues. Traditionally, joining a team for a player of medium to short height would be more difficult than for one who's exceptionally tall.

Becoming a professional basketball player takes a lot of hard work and dedication to perfecting your skills and being in peak physical condition.
  • Average Salary: $51,882
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Karate Black Belt

Role:

Karate Black Belt are typically instructors who enjoy the challenges and rewards of teaching a set of physical skills and fighting techniques and instilling core values of martial arts into their students.



You teach the martial art of karate to students in groups or individually. Subsequently, you demonstrate your techniques and help students perfect their methods. Aside from that, you monitor their progress and prepare them to advance in rank.



If your students go to competitions, you will help prepare them. In some cases, you will even travel to the contest with the student to guide and coach him/her throughout the event.



You might teach classes for two to five hours in the afternoons, evenings, and weekends to accommodate your students' school and work schedules. Regardless, you may work additional hours to teach private classes and manage administrative tasks. However, without working those extra shifts, you can probably earn a median annual salary of $31,450.
  • Average Salary: $83,649
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Basketball Player Jobs

Number Of Basketball Player Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California14$60,409
2New York12$63,821
3Missouri11$38,247
4Iowa10$51,224
5Oregon9$44,819
6Connecticut8$67,972
7Maryland8$64,396
8Illinois7$50,783
9Michigan7$41,610
10Colorado6$35,923
11North Carolina5$51,854
12Kansas5$47,837
13Nevada4$56,442
14Arizona4$56,836
15Georgia4$46,348
16Minnesota4$38,085
17Indiana4$35,216
18New Mexico3$51,888
19West Virginia3$48,380
20Texas3$55,170
21Montana3$41,717
22Mississippi3$39,381
23Nebraska3$37,116
24Washington3$29,266
25New Hampshire2$63,988
26North Dakota2$56,574
27Louisiana2$49,769
28Pennsylvania2$50,039
29Oklahoma2$44,738
30Florida2$47,469
31Kentucky2$41,947
32Idaho2$28,322
33Massachusetts1$66,040
34New Jersey1$64,261
35Ohio1$57,148
36Virginia1$60,254
37Wyoming1$40,791
38Wisconsin1$44,055
39Tennessee1$42,727
40Alaska0$90,082
41Rhode Island0$67,291
42Delaware0$66,308
43Vermont0$60,510
44Utah0$51,173
45South Carolina0$47,551
46Hawaii0$49,662
47Arkansas0$44,705
48South Dakota0$44,532
49Maine0$39,750
50Alabama0$34,310

Basketball Player Education

Basketball Player Majors

20.2 %

Basketball Player Degrees

Bachelors

74.2 %

Associate

15.0 %

High School Diploma

5.4 %

Top Skills For a Basketball Player

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 24.7% of basketball players listed ncaa on their resume, but soft skills such as athleticism and dedication are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Basketball Player Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Basketball Player templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Basketball Player resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Basketball Player Resume

Basketball Player Demographics

Basketball Player Gender Distribution

Male
Male
77%
Female
Female
23%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among basketball players, 23.0% of them are women, while 77.0% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among basketball players is White, which makes up 72.8% of all basketball players.

  • The most common foreign language among basketball players is Spanish at 38.7%.

Online Courses For Basketball Player That You May Like

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1. Math behind Moneyball

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Learn how probability, math, and statistics can be used to help baseball, football and basketball teams improve, player and lineup selection as well as in game strategy...

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2. Sports Performance Analytics

coursera

Sports analytics has emerged as a field of research with increasing popularity propelled, in part, by the real-world success illustrated by the best-selling book and motion picture, Moneyball. Analysis of team and player performance data has continued to revolutionize the sports industry on the field, court, and ice as well as in living rooms among fantasy sports players and online sports gambling.\n\nDrawing from real data sets in Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball...

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3. Foundations of Sports Analytics: Data, Representation, and Models in Sports

coursera

This course provides an introduction to using Python to analyze team performance in sports. Learners will discover a variety of techniques that can be used to represent sports data and how to extract narratives based on these analytical techniques. The main focus of the introduction will be on the use of regression analysis to analyze team and player performance data, using examples drawn from the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey...

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Top Basketball Player Employers

Most Common Employers For Basketball Player

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Gannon University$74,832$35.984
2University of Connecticut$73,276$35.232
3Westfield State University$72,510$34.861
4Temple University$68,862$33.112
5Davis College$68,105$32.741
6James Madison University$54,612$26.262
7FIBA Bankers$51,639$24.8313
8Concordia University$49,527$23.811
9West Virginia University$49,484$23.791
10Drury University$48,009$23.082