Officially, there are five people per team on a court during regulation games: A center, two guards and two forwards. That means 10 people on the court at a time.
1. Point guard: usually the fastest player on the team, organizes the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time.
2. Shooting guard: creates a high volume of shots on offense; guards the o...

Officially, there are five people per team on a court during regulation games: A center, two guards and two forwards. That means 10 people on the court at a time.
1. Point guard: usually the fastest player on the team, organizes the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time.
2. Shooting guard: creates a high volume of shots on offense; guards the opponent's best perimeter player on defense.
3. Small forward: often primarily responsible for scoring points via cuts to the basket and dribble penetration; on defense seeks rebounds and steals, but sometimes plays more actively.
4. Power forward: plays offensively often with his back to the basket; on defense, plays under the basket (in a zone defense) or against the opposing power forward (in man-to-man defense).
5. Center: uses size to score (on offense), to protect the basket closely (on defense), or to rebound.

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by throwing a ball through a 10 foot (3 m) high hoop (the goal) under organized rules. Basketball is one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the world.

Points are scored by passing the ball through the basket from above; the team with more points at the end of the game wins. The ball can be advanced ...

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by throwing a ball through a 10 foot (3 m) high hoop (the goal) under organized rules. Basketball is one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the world.

Points are scored by passing the ball through the basket from above; the team with more points at the end of the game wins. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it (dribbling) or passing it between teammates. Disruptive physical contact (fouls) is not permitted and there are restrictions on how the ball can be handled (violations).

Through time, basketball has developed to involve common techniques of shooting, passing and dribbling, as well as players' positions, and offensive and defensive structures. While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. In some countries, basketball is also a popular spectator sport.

While competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport, played on a basketball court, less regulated variations have become exceedingly popular as an outdoor sport among both inner city and rural groups.

History about number of players:

While basketball is generally played with 5 players on each team, but the first game of basketball had nine players on each team because there were 18 students in Dr. james Naismith's gymnastic's class when he invented the game in Springfield Massachusetts, in 1891. Shortly thereafter, more than 100 players mobbed the court during the game played at Cornell University in Ithacha, New York which was just overcrowding and chaos.

In 1897, rulemakers decided that five was the optimum number of players for a basketball team, providing enough options for team play and interaction without cluttering up the court with too many bodies, thus restricting the speed and creativity that's so much a part of the game's essence.

5 people per team equalling a total of 10 people on the court.

6 players play at a time but the limit for a team is 12