150+ Basketball Training Drills For Players
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Do you want to take your game to the next level?
Check out these basketball training drills given to us by proven coaches with years of experience at the high school, Div I college, and NBA level.
We created this page for you, THE PLAYER, so you don't have to search and sort through all of the drills to find what basketball drills will work for you. Many of the basketball drills can be done by yourself, but there are a few that you need a partner to perform the basketball drill.
Coaches, click on Basketball Drills For Coaches for drills that apply to you.
Players, use this menu to jump to the drills you want.
Additionally, we’ve answered some of your common questions on basketball drills here:
Basketball Drills FAQ’s
Running Basketball Drills the Right Way
The first thing to realize is that the great players focus on the little things.
Too many players make the mistake of starting the basketball drill and just running through the motions.
To get better, each basketball drill needs to have a purpose and you really need to focus and work hard to improve.
We urge you to take the time to learn the detailed fundamentals of basketball. And then run the drills to train your body to perform those fundamentals without even thinking about it.
You'll notice that we tried to categorize the drills for you, but many of the drills here are multi-purpose which means they work on other skills as well. A ballhandling drill may include footwork and passing. A shooting drill may include conditioning. The multipurpose format helps to simulate gameplay and is time efficient to get the most out of the skill work.
27 Basketball Shooting Drills
The ONLY Shooting Drills Resource You EVER Need
Kevin Durant Shooting Workout and Drills
4 Spot Fast Break Shooting Drill
Chair Curl /Chair Curl with 2 Chairs
Improve Your Shooting & Conditioning With The Hornacek Drill
Three Competitive Shooting Drills
Shooting Off The Dribble - 30 Point Drill
Shooting Drill - Improve Decision-Making Off The Catch
String Spacing - Dribble At Post
String Spacing - Dribble At Wing
The BEST Drills MISSING In Your Shooting Workouts
5 shooting drills to become a better basketball player
Do this drill for a quicker shot release
3 Drills to help shooting in games
20 Minute "Century" Shooting Workout
3 Drills For Shooting Off Cuts
18 Offensive Moves Drills
Improve Getting Open and Scoring With The 1 on 1 Multi-Spot Game
1v1 Dribbling Drill and 3 Back Up Dribble Moves
The Forgotten Lay Up Situation (Includes Drill)
4 Small Guard Finishing Moves (Some Advanced Moves)
Steph Curry shooting drill and 6 more like it
Attack & Counter System Sample Workout 45 Minute Workout
20 Layup And Finishing Drills
Kyrie Irving Mikan Drill With 12 Variations
Ballhandling Drill: Chair Changes
Ballhandling Drill: Drop step Dribble
Ballhandling Drill: Two Up, Two Back
4 Small Guard Finishing Moves (Some Advanced Moves)
7 Rebounding Drills
Basketball Drill: McHale Lay-Ups
Improve Your Post Player's Touch Around The Basket With These 5 Drills
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15 Agility / Defense Drills
Basketball Defense & Agility Drill: Diamond Drill
Defensive Footwork Progressions
Cat & Mouse Drill For Ball Handling & Defense
Tight Spaces Ball Handling Drill
Deflect More Passes With This Drill
1v1 Ball Handling & Defensive Drill - Earn Your Dribbles
Basketball Defense Drill: Corner Close Live
Defensive Slide Drill - Cup Slides
9 Passing Drills
String Spacing - Dribble At Wing
String Spacing - Dribble At Post
10 Creative Passing & Footwork Drills You Can Do On Your Own - NO Partner Needed
20 Dribbling Drills
2-1-0 Stationary Dribbling Drills
Ballhandling Drill: Two Up, Two Back
Utilize Three Ball Drills for Advanced Guards
Separation Dribble - Down and Backs
4 Dribble Moves To Complement A Killer Crossover
Tight Spaces Ball Handling Drill
1v1 Ball Handling & Defensive Drill - Earn Your Dribbles
1v1 Dribbling Drill and 3 Back Up Dribble Moves
Basketball Pick and Roll Drills
1 on 2 Pressure Ballhandling Drill
Top 10 Basketball Drills To Do By Yourself
Kill The Grass Dribbling Drill
Change Of Direction Moves Drills
12 Post Play Drills
Kyrie Irving Mikan Drill With 12 Variations
Develop Your Drop Step Move With This Roll The Ball Drill
9 Warm Up Drills
Cat & Mouse Drill For Ball Handling & Defense
3 Cone - Groove Finishing Drill
Separation Dribble - Down and Backs
13 Conditioning Drills
Defensive Slide Drill - Cup Slides
Improve Your Ability To Finish At The Rim With The Corner Finishing Drill
Improve Your Shooting and Conditioning With The Hornacek Shooting Drill
Videos from app with ballhandling drills
Best Speed Drills 9 Vertical Jump Exercises - No Equipment Needed [New Video] Lateral Movement and Agility Speed Workout Workouts for confidence and a competitive advantage!13 Footwork Drills
Post Moves and Skills: Drop Steps
How To Greatly Reduce Turnovers With These Body Control Drills
Defense Drill: 1 2 3 Progression
Improve Getting Open and Scoring With The 1 on 1 Multi-Spot Game
Use Box Drills To Make Good Habits Part Of Your Court DNA
Training Tips: Partner Shooting Drills or Shooting By Yourself
If you are training with a partner or by yourself, here are some great ways to organize your shooting drills to maximize efficiency and to make the drills as game-like as possible. That way, you actually shoot better during games instead of just during practice!
You also learn a great way to practice game-like reactions that are random without a defender. Prior to the shot, you don't know what you're going to do. Just like a game, the repetition changes each time on whether to shoot, attack, or pass.
Partner Shooting - Change Location of Passer
Many players make the mistake of practicing all of their partner shooting drills with one rebounder under the basket who continuously rebounds and throws the pass back out. There is certainly a time and place for this.
However, if you always practice this way, you're making a big mistake! How many times during the game do you receive passes from many different locations on the floor? Probably a lot.
Instead of having the passer under the basket, you position the passer to different locations on the floor where you typically receive passes during the game. That way, you are practicing shooting from areas that you actually receive passes.
In the following video, NBA trainer Don Kelbick explains how to do this with your shooting drills.
Shooting Drills By Yourself - Spin Outs
If you're shooting by yourself, many shooting drills can be adapted to work for you.
One simple way is to use spin outs. You would spin the ball out away with backspin. Then you would cut to the ball, turn and face the basket, and shoot.
Here is a video that shows you how.
Using Chairs - For Cuts Where Spin Outs Don't Work
You can also place the ball on a chair prior to each shot to practice cuts where spin outs are too difficult to use and still execute the cut. L-Cuts, fades, and curl cuts would be good examples of this.
Here is how to use chairs to do this.
Using Chairs With a Helper
Chairs can also be good to use if you have somebody to help who is not a very good passer. This can be a friend, sibling, guardian, or anybody. After each shot, they can retrieve the ball and place it back on the chair. That way, you don't have to waste your time rebounding. You can immediately start your next repetition and you can get more shots up.
Important! How To Game-Like Random Shots With No Defenders
Every time you catch the basketball, you have to make choices. However, how often do you do that in your shooting drills!? A lot of players and even coaches neglect this important aspect of shooting drills. This can be part of the reason that some players shoot great during drills but poorly during games! They never train this way!
1v1 shooting drills and other 2v2 and 3v3 drills can easily take care of this. And you should definitely do a lot of this in your training.
However, what do you do if you don't have a defender to compete against? Or maybe you just want to get a lot of shooting repetitions up to develop some rhythm and confidence?
It's simple. You just need to find somebody who can rebound and display visual cues.
Even if you have defenders available, this can be used as a great progression prior to playing against live defenders.
Coach Chris Oliver shows you how to do this in the following drill. It's pretty cool!
Comprehensive Workouts for Players - And All Around Development Drills
Attack & Counter Basketball Workouts – Developed by NBA Skills Coach (Over 300 Drills)
Progressive Ballhandling & Footwork Workouts You Can Do At Home - App Includes Over 200 Drills
Basketball Camps
If you are looking to take your game to the next level through basketball camps and regional training, check out these pages.
Breakthrough Basketball Skill Development Camps
Basketball Drills FAQ
What to Work On
Q: What are basketball drills in basketball training?
A: Basketball drills are structured practice activities designed to develop specific skills, improve physical conditioning, and build basketball IQ in basketball players. Coaches, trainers, and players use them to focus on individual fundamentals or team concepts in a controlled, repeatable way.
Q: What are the best basketball drills for beginner and advanced players?
A: The best basketball drills for you will vary depending on your experience and ability. With beginners, there will be a focus on the fundamentals - basic dribbling, finishing, & shooting drills. Developing proper technique and getting reps is key.
Here’s some beginner shooting drills:
With more advanced players, the best basketball drills will involve multiple skills. Additionally, you should start to incorporate decision-making into your drills so that it more closely resembles the game.
Here’s an example:
Q: What are the best basketball drills to improve my shot at home?
A: Form shooting against a wall, wrist flick drills, one-hand shooting, and stationary shooting if you have a hoop. Focus on reps with perfect form. After that, progress to game-like shots - catch & shoot, shooting off the move, & shooting off the dribble. Then introduce variability to make the drills more game-like. The best shooting programs combine all aspects to make it easier to track and balance your workouts.
Here are 3 resources to get you started:
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12 Drills to Fix Common Shooting Mistakes and Build Better Form
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9 Tips For Shooting Workout - Elite Shooting Starts With This
Q: How can I work on my weak hand?
A: Use two-ball dribbling drills, weak-hand-only ball handling, and finish every layup series on both sides.
Here are 3 resources to get you started:
Q: Can I improve my defense by myself?
A: Yes! Mirror slide drills, stance-and-recover footwork, and resistance band lateral work all help. Also, a focus on developing your athleticism will improve your defense.
Q: What are good all-around basketball workouts for players who want to improve fast?
A: Focus on daily ball handling (5-15 minutes), shooting (if space allows), finishing, and footwork. Combine with 1-on-1 if possible.
That allows you to work on the fundamentals of offense individually & then apply what you’ve learned against a defender.
Here are some good 1v1 games you can incorporate into your workouts:
Time & Frequency
Q: How often should I do basketball drills on my own?
A: 4–6 days per week is great. Short, consistent workouts (20–30 min) beat long, inconsistent ones. Short workouts also allow you to go 100%. (In fact, you can get better in just 5 minutes!)
Over time, as your physical and mental endurance increases, you can lengthen your workouts (if you desire).
The key is to find a schedule that works for you. Additionally, make sure your workouts don’t exceed your amount of focus & intensity.
Q: Is it okay to train for basketball every day?
A: Yes, but rotate intensity and type of work (shooting vs. ball handling vs. recovery). This ensures you work on all aspects of the game. It also keeps you fresh mentally and physically.
Q: How long should each basketball training session be?
A: For youth players, 20–45 minutes is plenty. For high schoolers, 45–60 minutes of focused work is ideal.
Too many players get caught up in the length. Think quality>quantity.
At-Home & Space-Saving Drills
Q: What if I don’t have a basketball hoop?
A: You can still improve! Work on form shooting against a wall, ball control, passing against a wall, and footwork.
Turn an obstacle into an opportunity.
Q: Can I improve my shot without shooting?
A: Absolutely. Shadow shooting and slow-motion form reps help lock in mechanics.
Here’s a shooting workout you can go without a hoop:
Q: What’s a good driveway workout for basketball?
A: Ball handling circuits, shooting, finishing drills, and footwork ladders.
Here’s a complete workout that’s perfect for the driveway from The Attack & Counter Workout App with Don Kelbick.
Q: Do I need cones or fancy basketball equipment?
A: No. Use shoes, water bottles, or lines on the floor. Focus and effort matter more than gear.
Parent Involvement
Q: How can I help my child improve at basketball without being pushy?
A: Ask them if they want help. Respect their answer. Offer to rebound, pass, or time drills. Keep encouragement positive and low-pressure.
Q: Should I set a basketball practice schedule or let them decide?
A: Set gentle structure (“30 minutes before dinner”), but let them choose drills or mix in fun games.
If you force them to practice, it will become a chore. When that happens, they are more likely to quit or grow to resent the game (and you). Make sure the game stays fun!
Q: What basketball equipment is worth buying?
A: A quality ball, outdoor hoop (if possible), and a resistance band or cone set. Everything else is optional.
Tracking Progress
Q: How do I know if I’m getting better at basketball?
A: Track! If you don’t track your workouts, you won’t have a standard to measure yourself against. Here are some things you can track:
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Makes per minute or per drill
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Shooting percentage from various spots
Reps completed under pressure or fatigue
Q: Should I keep a workout log?
A: Yes! A notebook or app to track reps, times, and scores builds motivation and consistency.
Q: How can I turn my individual basketball drills into competitions?
A: Time each round, count makes, or beat yesterday’s score. Create "green light" standards like coaches use.
Remember this - your best competition is “you yesterday.” By competing against yourself, you enable yourself to see your growth and improvement - and that feels great!
Motivation & Routine
Q: I get bored doing the same basketball drills. Any tips?
A: Rotate variations every 3–5 days. Add music, challenge a friend, or shoot for personal records.
There are no shortage of drills out there. If you’re ever stuck, here’s over 150 different individual basketball drills for players that will keep your workouts fresh and fun!
Q: How do I stay consistent during the off-season?
A: Create a simple weekly plan: 3 days skill work, 2 days strength/athleticism, 1 recovery/fun day.
Put your plan on a calendar. Check off your workouts each day. Seeing your schedule helps create accountability. Being able to check the box after completing the workout reinforces your work and creates a positive loop.
Also, consider having an accountability partner. This could be a teammate, a coach, or a parent. Knowing that you are answerable to someone else is a great way to push through the days when you don’t necessarily want to workout.
Q: What’s a good individual daily workout routine of some of the best basketball drills?
A:
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5 min: Form shooting
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10-15 min: Ball handling series
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10-15 min: Layup/finishing series
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20-30 min: Game-like shooting drills
Supplement your on court routine with athletic development training, proper nutrition, and adequate rest.
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