Activity calories · 2024 Compendium METs

Calories burned playing basketball

Quick answer

A 70 kg (154 lb) person burns about 263 kcal in 30 minutes of playing basketball (General), and about 525 kcal in an hour. That is 7.5 METs.

30 minutes: 263kcal; 70 kg (154 lb)
1 hour: 525kcal; 70 kg (154 lb)
1 hour: 450kcal; 60 kg (132 lb)
1 hour: 600kcal; 80 kg (176 lb)

Basketball is rated higher in a game than in practice, and shooting baskets on your own is the lightest entry. Court time with plenty of running and few breaks matches the game or drills ratings; a casual shoot-around is closer to the lower ones.

Calculate calories burned playing basketball

Starts at 70 kg (154 lb) for 30 minutes of playing basketball at 7.5 METs; enter your own weight and time.

Calories burned playing basketball by weight and time

Kilocalories for playing basketball at 7.5 METs (General), by body weight and minutes. Read across from your weight; the pace table below shows the other rows.

Calories burned playing basketball at 7.5 METs, by body weight and duration
Body weight	15 min	30 min	45 min	1 hour	1.5 hours	2 hours
50 kg (110 lb)	94	188	281	375	563	750
60 kg (132 lb)	113	225	338	450	675	900
70 kg (154 lb)	131	263	394	525	788	1,050
80 kg (176 lb)	150	300	450	600	900	1,200
90 kg (198 lb)	169	338	506	675	1,013	1,350
100 kg (220 lb)	188	375	563	750	1,125	1,500
110 kg (243 lb)	206	413	619	825	1,238	1,650

Playing basketball: calories by pace or effort

The Compendium rates playing basketball on 5 lines, from 5 METs (Shooting baskets) up to 9.3 METs (Drills and practice). Each row below is one of those codes with the calories it works out to.

Calories burned playing basketball by pace or effort
Pace or effort	Compendium code	METs	30 min, 60 kg (132 lb)	30 min, 70 kg (154 lb)	30 min, 80 kg (176 lb)	1 hour, 70 kg (154 lb)
Shooting baskets	15070	5	150	175	200	350
Non-game, general	15050	6	180	210	240	420
General	15055	7.5	225	263	300	525
Game	15040	8	240	280	320	560
Drills and practice	15072	9.3	279	326	372	651

The Compendium’s own wording for each code: 15070, “Basketball, shooting baskets”; 15050, “Basketball, non-game, general”; 15055, “Basketball, general”; 15040, “Basketball, game”; 15072, “Basketball, drills, practice”.

What changes the number for playing basketball

Pace is the biggest lever. The hardest listed way of playing basketball (Drills and practice) is rated at 9.3 METs, 1.9 times the 5 METs of the gentlest (Shooting baskets). For a 70 kg (154 lb) person that is 651 kcal an hour against 350 kcal.

Body weight is the second: the same 7.5 METs of playing basketball for 30 minutes comes to 188 kcal at 50 kg (110 lb) and 413 kcal at 110 kg (243 lb). To reach 100 kcal at 70 kg (154 lb) takes about 11 minutes at the starting pace.

Laid out in half-hour terms for 70 kg (154 lb): shooting baskets is 175 kcal; non-game, general is 210 kcal; general is 263 kcal; game is 280 kcal; drills and practice is 326 kcal.

How the calories are worked out

The formula is calories = MET × body weight in kg × hours. A MET compares an activity with sitting quietly, which is 1 MET and is taken as roughly 1 kcal per kilogram per hour. That equivalence is an approximation, which is why every figure is rounded and called about.

For playing basketball at 7.5 METs, a 70 kg (154 lb) person for 30 minutes: 7.5 × 70 × 0.5 = 263 kcal. This is a gross figure: it includes the energy your body would spend at rest in the same time.

The MET values are those of the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities (Herrmann SD, Willis EA, Ainsworth BE, et al., J Sport Health Sci 2024), read from its activity list on 2026-10-23 and copied with their codes. They are averages for adults; see how we calculate.

Frequently asked questions

How many calories does a 70 kg person burn playing basketball in 30 minutes?

About 263 kcal at 7.5 METs (General). The whole range for playing basketball on this page runs from 175 kcal (Shooting baskets) to 326 kcal (Drills and practice) in the same half hour.

How many calories does playing basketball burn in an hour?

At 7.5 METs, about 450 kcal for a 60 kg (132 lb) person, 525 kcal at 70 kg (154 lb) and 600 kcal at 80 kg (176 lb). Heavier people burn more because they move more mass.

How long does playing basketball take to burn 100 calories?

For a 70 kg (154 lb) person, about 11 minutes at 7.5 METs (General). At the gentlest listed pace (Shooting baskets, 5 METs) it takes 17 minutes, and at the hardest (Drills and practice, 9.3 METs) about 9.

Does the number for playing basketball include the calories I would burn anyway?

Yes. Of the 7.5 METs, 1 is the resting cost, about 13% of the total here, so the activity itself adds about 228 of the 263 kcal in 30 minutes at 70 kg (154 lb).

Why would my watch show a different number for playing basketball?

A watch uses its own model, often with heart rate, age and sex, while this page uses the Compendium’s average. For playing basketball that average already spans 5 entries from 5 to 9.3 METs, a 1.9-fold range, so a gap between the two is normal.

Which line in the table should I choose for playing basketball?

Pick the row that best describes how you did it: this page starts from “General”, about 58% of the way up the 5 to 9.3 MET range. The rows are separate Compendium entries (15070, 15050, 15055, 15040, 15072).

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These are estimates for healthy adults from average MET values. How much you actually burn varies with your fitness, body composition, technique, terrain and conditions, so use the figures as a guide, not a measurement. This is not medical advice.