Frequently Asked Questions
Commonly asked questions about our website, company, scouting, recruiting rankings, and more.
Q: What is World Basketball Scouting?
Answer: World Basketball Scouting is the world's first United States-style International basketball recruiting database. It is also the world's deepest and most thorough world youth basketball database with over 5,000 prospects from over 120 different countries and territories. Providing data-based searching of the world's top youth basketball talent and exclusive recruiting insights to coaches, clubs, and talent academies across the world.
Q: How are player rankings developed?
Answer: Player Rankings are calculated using NPI/G (a stat that measures total point impact (Positive and negative) per game). The player outputs are standardized across all leagues through a network of over 295,000 recent player seasons, which compares player output before and after movements between 329 leagues and competitions across the world. Then, using a system of variables including player data recency, total games recorded, average player NPI, awards received, and more, create a final adjusted player skill rating. This allows us to categorically rank over 5,000 players without bias, with nothing but their output, awards, age, and performance.
Q: How are star ratings determined?
Answer: World Basketball Scouting uses an internal, calculated player leaderboard that ranks American prospects and International prospects alongside one another for each age group, creating a measured cutoff for 5- 4- and 3- stars based on historical 5- 4- and 3-star ranking cutoffs on major United States recruiting sites. Then, using their internal adjusted player skill rating, extrapolate the star scale across the rest of the dataset.
Q: What is NPI?
Answer: NPI (Net Point Impact) is World Basketball Scouting's take on Efficiency (created by John Hollinger). NPI was built on a sample of over 3000 collegiate possessions at a variety of levels across the 2025-26 NCAA Division 1 season. NPI measures each recorded action's (PTS, REB, AST, TO, STL, BLK, FG, FT) impact on the projected point value of each possession containing them. The scale goes both ways. NPI represents both the prevention of opponent points and the creation of team points, measuring each swing in the game. The equation for NPI is a weighted version is "NPI = 2PT Makes + 3PT Makes + FT Makes - 2PT Misses - 3PT Misses - FT Misses + OREB + DREB + STL + BLK - TO". The average player in our database averages 2.743 NPI per game.
Q: I'm a young basketball player, can I get a profile?
Answer: Yes. Players born between 2007 and 2011 (currently supported birth-years) who hold nationality of a nation outside of the 50 U.S. States can apply for their own profile through the form linked here.
Q: I am running into issues or have a suggestion for the site.
Answer: Please report your issues, factual inaccuracies, difficulty navigating the site, trouble using its tools, and website suggestions using the Report Feedback form.
Q: How do I access World Basketball Scouting's exclusive tools and reports?
Answer: These can be accessed through the subscription tiers (Supporter, Recruiter, and Full Staff), with various tools and access included in each.
Q: I'm a player with a World Basketball Scouting profile. How do I update my profile?
Answer: All players can claim their profiles and add game film, update statistics, expand awards, pictures, height, team, and national team information. They can also fill out a questionnaire on their skillset, future goals, and interests + more for coaches. Use the following form to submit a claim to your profile (Review usually takes 1-3 days).