Bilateral Symmetry of Jumping and Agility in Professional Basketball Players: Differentiating Performance Levels and Playing Positions

Although functional asymmetry is very common and normal in professional athletes, the better interlimb symmetry between dominant and nondominant sides (bilateral symmetry) could contribute to successful performance in basketball. The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of bilateral symmetry of the one-leg jumping and agility performances in differentiating basketball players according to their (i) playing position (guards, forwards, and centers) and (ii) performance levels (first division vs. second division). The participants were 102 professional male basketball players, with all members of the teams competing in the two highest national divisions at the moment of testing (height: 194.92 ± 8.09 cm; body mass: 89.33 ± 10.91 kg; 21.58 ± 3.92 years of age). Performance levels (first division, N = 58 vs. second division, N = 44) and playing positions (guards, N = 48; forwards, N = 22; centers, N = 32) were observed as dependent variables. We measured one-leg jumping capacities (running vertical jump and lay-up vertical jump), basketball-specific preplanned agility (CODS), and basketball-specific reactive agility (RAG), all executed on dominant and nondominant sides. Accordingly, the bilateral symmetry of jumping and agility was calculated by calculating the ratio of the corresponding performances on the dominant and nondominant sides. Factorial analysis of variance (performance levels × positions) indicated that the bilateral symmetry of one-leg jumping differentiated players according to their playing position, with better bilateral symmetry among guards (F-test = 6.11 (medium effect size) and 5.81 (small effect size), p < 0.05 for lay-up and running-jump symmetry, respectively). Performance levels significantly differed in the bilateral symmetry of lay-up jump, with better symmetry for first-division players (F-test = 10.11 (medium effect size), p < 0.001), which was mostly influenced by significant differences among guards. Playing positions and performance levels did not differ in bilateral symmetry of the CODS and RAG. The study reveals the importance of bilateral symmetry of the sport-specific performance in differentiating playing positions and performance levels in basketball. Further studies in other multidirectional sports and other sport-specific performances are warranted.