Dismissing the idea that basketball is a 'contactless' sport: quantifying contacts during professional gameplay

IntroductionBasketball, introduced by Naismith as a contactless and indoor alternative to sports such as American football, now frequently involves physical contact among players, challenging the traditional notion. Up to date, a thorough understanding of these contacts and their implications remains limited. This study aims to analyze player contacts, embedding it within overall load monitoring to optimize performance and reduce injury risk.MethodsUsing a mixed-method design, video-based observations and quantitative analysis were employed to study contact characteristics during ten professional male basketball matches. Fisher exact tests and chi-squared tests (p