The study of elite basketball players' anthropometric characteristics alongside those of body composition contributes significantly to their profiling as professional athletes and plays an important role in the selection process, as these characteristics can have a significant impact on performance. In the current study, 110 professional basketball players from a series of Spanish professional Leagues (ACB, LEB and EBA) and youth level National Teams (U20 and U18) had their anthropometric profiles measured and compared to determine differences between them. Furthermore, all 110 players were divided into three different categories according to their playing position: guards, forwards and centres. The results obtained show no significant differences between players in different competitions in weight, height and the sum of skinfolds. Nonetheless, there were several differences related to body fat content (13.03% in ACB players and 10.52% in the lower categories and National Teams). There were also several differences found between the different playing positions amongst all playing levels in body mass (79.56 ± 2.41, 91.04 ± 1.51 and 104.56 ± 1.73 kg), height (182.28 ± 0.96, 195.65 ± 1.00 and 204.08 ± 0.67 cm), skinfold distribution and perimeters. However, there were no significant differences in body fat content between the different playing positions. The conclusions obtained from this study provide a better understanding to basketball specialists regarding the selection process of players at the elite level, especially on the transition from youth elite programs to men's elite leagues.
Keywords: basketball; body composition; playing position; skinfolds; sports level.