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Center (basketball)

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Nikola Jokic takes a free throw during a basketball game between the Denver Nuggets and the Washington Wizards.

Centers are one of the five main jobs in a basketball game. They are usually the tallest and strongest players on the team. In the NBA, centers are often close to 7 feet tall, and in the WNBA, they are usually above 6 feet 4 inches tall.

Centers help protect their team's goal by blocking shots and are good at scoring and getting rebounds. They are very important players! In the past, great centers like George Mikan and Bill Russell led their teams to win many championships.

Today, modern centers like Nikola Jokić, Bam Adebayo, and Victor Wembanyama are known for being great playmakers and scorers. This shows how the role of a center has changed over time. Centers can be fun to watch because they are so tall and strong!

Images

Basketball players from DePaul University and Long Island University competing in a game at Madison Square Garden in 1944.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale during a basketball game in the late 1980s.
Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, legendary basketball players, competing in a game in 1966.
Portrait of Margo Dydek, a professional basketball player.
Portrait of basketball legends Wes Unseld and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Hakeem Olajuwon signing for the Houston Rockets in 1984.
Portrait of basketball player Shaquille O'Neal during a game in 1999.
A standard basketball used in many sports leagues.

Related articles

Basketball

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Center (basketball), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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