Wikipedia:WikiProject National Basketball Association/Style advice

This guide aims to promote professionalism, simplicity and cohesion in National Basketball Association-related Wikipedia articles. An overriding principle is that style and formatting should be applied consistently throughout articles.

Naming convention
This should follow Wikipedia's naming convention guideline.

Templates

 * Infobox basketball biography

Images
For living players, the lead image in the infobox is generally the most recent available image for the player. For deceased players, a representative photo from their career is preferred.

Images must meet Wikipedia's policy on copyrights and licensing, which generally must be a free image (like some from Flickr). Therefore, Wikipedia may not always have an image of a player with their most recent team. You can refer to Files for upload if you need further assistance on uploading an image for use. Also consider requesting permission from a non-free resource.

Position
In an infobox, a player's position(s) is generally listed based on the listings at NBA.com and basketball-reference.com. For example, if a player is listed as F on NBA.com and PF-C on basketball-reference.com, list Power forward / center in the infobox.

Listing specific positions for a player is preferred over using generic positions e.g. use Point guard instead of Guard. A player that plays both guard positions should be listed as "Point guard / shooting guard" (order may be changed) instead of a generic "Guard". Similarly, a player who plays both Forward positions should be listed as "Power forward / small forward". For players that play three or more positions, a generic position is generally used to limit the display to two positions. For example, a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo who played point guard, shooting guard, and small forward, was at one point listed as "Guard / small forward".

Do not use original research to list a more specific position; the generic position is acceptable if that is all that is verifiable.

Height and weight
In an infobox, an NBA player's height and weight should use the listed value at their NBA.com profile. In the event that there is consensus to explain any discrepancies, a footnote can be placed next to their listed measurements in the infobox.

A player's measurements are generally not considered notable to include in the text of the lead. Exceptions may include players that are exceptionally short (under six feet) or tall (7-footers). A player's weight is generally not notable for the lead. However, height and weight is suitable for a "Player profile" section, if one already exists.

Career history
In an infobox, list any team for which the subject played at least one regular season game. The starting year should be the starting contract year with the team. Similarly, the ending year is the ending contract year. Summer league stints are not listed.

While multiple stints with the same team should be listed with separate entries, do not re-link the same team multiple times.

Consensus is to not list Big3 stints.

Infobox highlights
The "highlights" field of Infobox basketball biography should include notable highlights and awards that the person has won. This is not necessarily an exhaustive list. MOS:INFOBOX advises that "the purpose of an infobox: to summarize key facts in the article in which it appears. The less information it contains, the more effectively it serves that purpose, allowing readers to identify key facts at a glance." A good rule of thumb is to only list awards that would be expected to be mentioned in the lead if it were a featured article. Other awards less notable to the biography should instead be mentioned in the body of the article.

The general format of the highlights are:


 * 1) Omit #× if the award is won only once.
 * 2) To denote consecutive years, use en dash instead of comma and omit the year(s) in between.
 * 3) If possible, use the full name of the award.
 * 4) If a separate article exists for the highlight's specific year, link to that article instead of the general league season.
 * 5) Medals shall be listed under  and not under   in Infobox basketball biography.

NBA highlights
Highlights generally fall into two groups: those earned in a given year, and those related to multiple years or a career (e.g. NBA 35th Anniversary Team and retired numbers). Annual highlights are generally listed before career highlights.

The highlights for players are generally listed according to the order listed in the following table:


 * * List items in this group together in reverse chronological order, i.e. more recent items first, after highlights ranked higher. Some articles reorder within this group based on how defining it is relative to a specific player's notability.
 * †When a player was also named Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie can be omitted for players with a large list of highlights. When a player was not also Rookie of the Year, some articles group All-Rookie with the other items in "11".
 * undefinedList each team that retires a number in a separate entry, even if the same number is retired by multiple teams.
 * §List in separate entries by first team, second team, and third team.

A player is listed as an NBA champion if they were on a championship team's playoff roster. Merely receiving a championship ring is not sufficient, as is the case with some players who left the team midseason but were later rewarded with a ring.

Some items for which there has been consensus to exclude from the infobox include:
 * 1) Conference championships
 * 2) NBA career statistical leaders (e.g. List of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders)
 * 3) Franchise statistical leaders (e.g. List of National Basketball Association franchise career scoring leaders)
 * 4) Summer league honors
 * 5) 2020 bubble-related awards
 * 6) Big3 highlights

General
Professional highlights are listed first, followed by college and then high school highlights. Similar to the professional highlights, annual honors are listed before career honors e.g. retired numbers.

Players with 5+ professional highlights should limit college highlights to NCAA championships, awards at Template:Men's college basketball award navbox, NCAA Tournament MOPs, and retired numbers; high school highlights should be restricted to major national player of the year awards and State Mr. Basketball awards e.g. Minnesota Mr. Basketball.

National player of the year
For players earning multiple national player of the year awards in college, entries may be consolidated, especially when there are 5+ professional highlights listed: 2× National college player of the year (2001–2002) Wikicode:

Similarly, multiple national player of the year awards in high school can be combined to: 2× National high school player of the year (2001–2002) Wikicode:

Hall of Fames
Do not duplicate hall of fames which already have existing infobox parameters, e.g. HOF_player for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Other regional hall of fames, e.g. school (University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame), state (Kansas Sports Hall of Fame), etc., can be mentioned in prose.

Statistics
Every NBA player's article should have a section displaying the statistics a player recorded during his career in a tabular format. Articles may also include subsection listing here for college statistics, but not for high school.

NBA statistics
The section contains two tables: one for the regular season, and the other for the postseason. The following are specific features that the tables should have:
 * The statistics should be placed under the section "Career statistics" e.g. in a subsection titled "NBA" e.g.
 * A key for table should follows using NBA player statistics legend. It should look like:


 * Above the regular season table should be a level four heading e.g.
 * The regular season table should open using NBA player statistics start and end using end box
 * Each row should show relevant statistics of a particular season. The last row should show the total career statistics.
 * If the given player has been selected to play in the All-Star Game, then an additional row is added to show statistics accumulated during the game. (See example below)
 * The highest number of each column (ignore the numbers in the career row) should be in bold.
 * This is an example of the regular season statistics table taken from Sasha Vujačić:


 * align="left" | 2004–05
 * align="left" | L.A. Lakers
 * 35 || 3 || 11.5 || .282 || .270 || .947 || 1.8 || 1.5 || .3 || .1 || 2.9
 * align="left" | 2005–06
 * align="left" | L.A. Lakers
 * 82 || 4 || 17.7 || .346 || .343 || .885 || 1.9 || 1.7 || .6 || .0 || 3.9
 * align="left" | 2006–07
 * align="left" | L.A. Lakers
 * 73 || 4 || 12.8 || .392 || .373 || .878 || 1.5 || .9 || .6 || .0 || 4.3
 * align="left" | 2007–08
 * align="left" | L.A. Lakers
 * 72 || 0 || 17.8 || .454 || .437 || .835 || 2.1 || 1.0 || .5 || .1 || 8.8
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * align="center" colspan=2| Career
 * 262 || 11 || 15.5 || .394 || .381 || .867 || 1.8 || 1.2 || .5 || .0 || 5.2
 * 72 || 0 || 17.8 || .454 || .437 || .835 || 2.1 || 1.0 || .5 || .1 || 8.8
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * align="center" colspan=2| Career
 * 262 || 11 || 15.5 || .394 || .381 || .867 || 1.8 || 1.2 || .5 || .0 || 5.2


 * The additional All-Star row should look like (taken from Kobe Bryant):


 * colspan="13" align="center" |. . .
 * align="left" | 2008–09
 * align="left" | L.A. Lakers
 * 52 || 52 || 36.5 || .475 || .350 || .869 || 5.6 || 5.0 || 1.3 || .4 || 27.7
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * align="center" colspan=2| Career
 * 918 || 770 || 36.5 || .455 || .341 || .840 || 5.3 || 4.6 || 1.5 || .6 || 25.1
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * align="center" colspan=2 | All-Star
 * 10 || 10 || 26.8 || .500 || .350 || .778 || 4.6 || 4.7 || 2.6 || .4 || 18.0
 * }
 * Above the postseason table should be another level four heading e.g.
 * The postseason table should open using NBA player statistics start and end using end box
 * Each row should show relevant statistics of a particular postseason. The last row should show the total career postseason statistics.
 * The highest number of each column (ignore the numbers in the career row) should be in bold.
 * This is an example of the postseason statistics table taken from Sasha Vujačić:
 * The highest number of each column (ignore the numbers in the career row) should be in bold.
 * This is an example of the postseason statistics table taken from Sasha Vujačić:


 * align="left" | 2005–06
 * align="left" | L.A. Lakers
 * 7 || 0 || 18.4 || .423 || .600 || 1.000 || 2.4 || .9 || .6 || .0 || 6.0
 * align="left" | 2006–07
 * align="left" | L.A. Lakers
 * 4 || 0 || 10.8 || .556 || .250 || .000 || 1.0 || .8 || .2 || .0 || 2.8
 * align="left" | 2007–08
 * align="left" | L.A. Lakers
 * 21 || 0 || 21.7 || .399 || .392 || .857 || 2.2 || .8 || .6 || .2 || 8.1
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * align="center" colspan=2| Career
 * 32 || 0 || 19.6 || .410 || .418 || .891 || 2.1 || .8 || .5 || .1 || 7.0
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * align="center" colspan=2| Career
 * 32 || 0 || 19.6 || .410 || .418 || .891 || 2.1 || .8 || .5 || .1 || 7.0

Team seasons
Depth charts are generally not listed.

Layout of lists
In addition to complying with the other policies and guidelines of Wikipedia, NBA lists should have the following attributes: "The National Basketball Association's Sixth Man of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1982–83 NBA season to the league's most valuable player for his team coming off the bench as a substitute (or sixth man)."
 * Lead section
 * If appropriate, a navigation box at the top
 * A lead section of appropriate length. The lead section should provide context for the reader about the subject. See Lead section.
 * This is an example of a good opening sentence, taken from NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award:


 * List
 * A key for table should come first. It can be under separate level 2 header or integrated into the main table section
 * Be sure to use wikitable format
 * This table should not be sortable
 * Have  as the heading
 * A reference column is optional
 * Include a note section if notes are used in the list
 * Add to table using ref label
 * List them using note label
 * References
 * Ensure that everything in the article is adequately referenced.
 * List references in a level two header section after the list itself using reflist.
 * Inline citations should be used and formatted correctly. Citation templates may be used, but are not mandatory. Two "families" of citation templates are available. Either may be used, but both types should not be mixed in the same article:
 * "cite XXX" templates, e.g., cite web
 * citation
 * General references may be used to cite the information in the list. Inline, or "Specific" citations should be used for information not supported.
 * Reference sections should be formatted as follows:
 * Have  as the heading
 * List general references used for the list here, in bulleted format.
 * Have  as the heading
 * Display inline citations here with reflist (use if there are more than 20 inline citations).

Awards lists
These are specific features that an awards list should have, in addition to the general guidelines for NBA lists described above:
 * Lead section
 * NBA Awards navigation box at the top
 * Describes the award and how winners are chosen
 * Summarizes the list appropriately


 * List of winners
 * List should have a minimum of 4 columns: Season, Player, Nationality, Team (from left to right)
 * This is an example of the table heading, taken from NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award:
 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

! Season ! Player ! Nationality ! Team
 * }
 * }

An example of an exemplary awards list is NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award, a featured list.

Head coach lists
These are specific features that a head coach list should have, in addition to the general guidelines for NBA lists described above:


 * Naming convention
 * The name of head coach lists for a specific NBA team should follow this style: List of (team name) head coaches.


 * Lead
 * Generally, the lead should be composed of two to three paragraphs.
 * The first should provide basic information about the team to provide context—the team's name, its division and conference, and a brief summary of the its history. Inline citations should be added where appropriate.
 * The second (and third, if it exists) should summarize the list. Inline citations are usually not necessary because the information is often cited in the list (or by the general reference).
 * There should be a mention of the coach who has the most wins, championships, and has had the longest tenure with the team. These facts do not need citations since they can be derived from simple computation.


 * List
 * A key for table should come first. It can be under separate level two heading or integrated into the main table section
 * The key should explain the headings used in the main table
 * The main table should come after, under a level two heading of "Coaches"
 * Before the table, a note should included that explains through which season the statistics are correct (for example, Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the season.)
 * The table should list the win–loss record of the coach both in the regular season and the playoffs, as well as any major awards won and achievements.
 * The major awards/honors include NBA Coach of the Year and inclusion on list of the top ten coaches in NBA history.
 * Achievements include league championships with that team; if the team has not won a championship, then a mention should be made of the highest advancement made in the NBA playoffs, e.g., Eastern Conference champion (see List of Cleveland Cavaliers head coaches).
 * A reference column should be included.
 * The list should be not be sortable.
 * This is an example of the table heading, taken from List of Washington Wizards head coaches:
 * {| class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2" | # ! rowspan="2" | Name ! rowspan="2" | Term ! colspan="4" | Regular season ! colspan="4" | Playoffs ! rowspan="2" | Achievements ! rowspan="2" | Reference ! GC ! W ! L ! Win% ! GC ! W ! L ! Win%
 * }

Season lists

 * Naming convention
 * The name of seasons lists for a specific NBA team should follow this style: (team name) seasons.


 * Lead
 * The lead should provide a short summary of the team's history, one or two paragraphs in length. The summary should mention any championships won and/or major playoff runs made. Significant players and coaches may also be mentioned.
 * The best and worst seasons of the team should be mentioned.
 * The overall record of the team should be stated in the lead.


 * List
 * A key for table should come first. It can be under separate level two heading or integrated into the main table section
 * The key should explain the headings used in the main table
 * It should also explain all award abbreviations (i.e. "AMVP" is All-Star Game Most Valuable Player). An example taken from Los Angeles Lakers seasons:
 * {| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"


 * AMVP ||All-Star Game Most Valuable Player
 * COY ||Coach of the Year
 * DPOY ||Defensive Player of the Year
 * Finish ||Final position in league or division standings
 * GB ||Games behind first-place team in division
 * Italics ||Season in progress
 * Losses ||Number of regular season losses
 * EOY ||Executive of the Year
 * FMVP ||Finals Most Valuable Player
 * JWKC ||J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship
 * MVP ||Most Valuable Player
 * ROY ||Rookie of the Year
 * Wins ||Number of regular season wins
 * }
 * EOY ||Executive of the Year
 * FMVP ||Finals Most Valuable Player
 * JWKC ||J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship
 * MVP ||Most Valuable Player
 * ROY ||Rookie of the Year
 * Wins ||Number of regular season wins
 * }
 * MVP ||Most Valuable Player
 * ROY ||Rookie of the Year
 * Wins ||Number of regular season wins
 * }
 * Wins ||Number of regular season wins
 * }


 * Before the table, a note should included that explains through which season the statistics are correct (for example, Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the season.)
 * Also before the seasons lists should be a table explaining the symbols and colors used to show accomplished season. An example taken from Los Angeles Lakers seasons:
 * {| class="wikitable"

(1949–present) † (1949–1970 / 1971–present) * (1971–present) ^ (1949–present) ¤
 * align="center" bgcolor="#FFE6BD"|NBA Champions
 * align="center" bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|Division Champions / Conference Champions
 * align="center" bgcolor="#D0E7FF"|Division Champions
 * align="center" bgcolor="#96CDCD"|Playoff Berth
 * }


 * The main table should come after, under a level two heading of "Seasons"
 * The table should list every season of the respective franchise in the NBA.
 * The columns that should be sortable are: Season, Finish, Wins, Losses, Win%, and GB.
 * Colors should be used to mark accomplished season, as well as symbols (for accessibility reasons).
 * If a team qualifies for the playoffs, the Finish column should be marked with the respective symbol and color. An example from Chicago Bulls seasons:
 * {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

!Season !class="unsortable"|Conference !class="unsortable"|Division !Finish !Wins !Losses !Win% !GB !class="unsortable"|Playoffs !class="unsortable"|Awards
 * 1966–67
 * &mdash;
 * Western
 * bgcolor="#96CDCD"|4th ¤
 * 33
 * 48
 * .407
 * 11
 * Lost Western Division Semifinals to St. Louis Hawks, 3–0
 * }
 * If the team wins their division, then both the Division and Finish columns should be marked with the color and symbol. An example from Los Angeles Lakers seasons:
 * {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"
 * {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

!Season !class="unsortable"|Conference !class="unsortable"|Division !Finish !Wins !Losses !Win% !GB !class="unsortable"|Playoffs !class="unsortable"|Awards Lost Western Conference Finals to Portland Trail Blazers, 4–0
 * Western
 * bgcolor="#D0E7FF"|Pacific ^
 * bgcolor="#D0E7FF"|1st ^
 * 53
 * 29
 * .646
 * Won Western Conference Semifinals vs. Golden State Warriors, 4–3
 * .646
 * Won Western Conference Semifinals vs. Golden State Warriors, 4–3
 * Won Western Conference Semifinals vs. Golden State Warriors, 4–3
 * }
 * If a team wins their conference, then the Conference column should be marked with the color and symbol. An example from Los Angeles Lakers seasons:
 * {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; width:100%; font-size:90%"

!Season !class="unsortable"|Conference !class="unsortable"|Division !Finish !Wins !Losses !Win% !GB !class="unsortable"|Playoffs !class="unsortable"|Awards Won Western Conference Semifinals vs. Dallas Mavericks, 4–1 Won Western Conference Finals vs. Phoenix Suns, 4–2 Lost NBA Finals to Boston Celtics, 4–3
 * bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|Western *
 * bgcolor="#D0E7FF"|Pacific ^
 * bgcolor="#D0E7FF"|1st ^
 * 54
 * 28
 * .659
 * Won Western Conference First Round vs. Kansas City Kings, 3–0
 * .659
 * Won Western Conference First Round vs. Kansas City Kings, 3–0
 * Won Western Conference First Round vs. Kansas City Kings, 3–0
 * }
 * If a team wins the NBA Finals, then both the Season and the Playoffs section should be marked with the respective color and symbol. An example from Chicago Bulls seasons:
 * {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

!Season !class="unsortable"|Conference !class="unsortable"|Division !Finish !Wins !Losses !Win% !GB !class="unsortable"|Playoffs !class="unsortable"|Awards Won Eastern Conference Semifinals vs. New York Knicks, 4–1 Won Eastern Conference Finals vs. Orlando Magic, 4–0 Won NBA Finals vs. Seattle SuperSonics, 4–2 † Jerry Krause (EOY) Michael Jordan (AMVP, FMVP, & MVP) Toni Kukoč (SIX) between each round. The column should also include a reference of that season at the end. An example from New York Knicks seasons:
 * bgcolor="#FFE6BD"|1995–96 †
 * bgcolor="#FFCCCC"|Eastern *
 * bgcolor="#D0E7FF"|Central ^
 * bgcolor="#FFE6BD"|1st †
 * 72
 * 10
 * .878
 * &mdash;
 * bgcolor="#FFE6BD"|Won Eastern Conference First Round vs. Miami Heat, 3–0
 * bgcolor="#FFE6BD"|Won Eastern Conference First Round vs. Miami Heat, 3–0
 * Phil Jackson (COY)
 * }
 * A Playoffs heading should be included in the table.
 * If the team did not qualify for the playoffs that year, it should read "Did not reach the Playoffs".
 * If the team did make the playoffs, it should list the results of each round it played in, with a
 * {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

!class="unsortable"|Playoffs Won NBA Eastern Conference Finals vs. Boston Celtics, 4–1 Lost NBA Finals to Los Angeles Lakers, 4–1
 * Won NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals vs. Baltimore Bullets, 4–2
 * Won NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals vs. Baltimore Bullets, 4–2
 * }
 * An Awards section should be included in the table, listing the major awards won by the team in that season.
 * The major awards are All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Executive of the Year, Finals Most Valuable Player, Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, and Sportsmanship Award.
 * The awards should be abbreviated (i.e. "Coach of the Year" becomes "COY).
 * Each individual award should be referenced.
 * Should follow the format:
 * An example from Chicago Bulls seasons:
 * {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"
 * {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

!class="unsortable"|Awards Jerry Krause (EOY) Michael Jordan (AMVP, FMVP, & MVP) Toni Kukoč (SIX)
 * Phil Jackson (COY)
 * Phil Jackson (COY)


 * }