Influence of maximal linear deceleration on lateral deceleration and shuffle performance in NCAA power 4 basketball athletes

The sport of basketball requires players to have high-level multidirectional deceleration performance to excel in training and match-play. Therefore, the aim of this present study was to investigate multidirectional deceleration performance to determine if maximal deceleration following linear running can differentiate performance in a lateral shuffle movement. One hundred and twenty-four male basketball athletes (age = 20.9 ± 1.2 years, height = 195 ± 14.3 cm, body mass = 89.9 ± 10.2 kg) from 10 different NCAA Power 4 basketball programs participated in this study. Deceleration ability was evaluated based on maximal deceleration (Decel Max) following a linear acceleration using a 10 m acceleration-deceleration ability (ADA) test and lateral deceleration using a 5-5 lateral shuffle test. The cohort was split by position (Guards and Bigs) and dichotomized into high and low deceleration capabilities (High Dec Bigs, High Dec Guards, Low Dec Bigs, Low Dec Guards) based on results from the 10 m ADA. In the 5-5 lateral shuffle test, High Dec Bigs had significantly lower total time (3.68 ± 0.24 s) compared to the Low Dec Bigs (3.90 ± 0.32 s; ES = 0.78; p < 0.001), and High Dec Guards significantly lower total time (3.62 ± 0.23 s) than Low Dec Guards (3.76 ± 0.26 s; ES = 0.57; p = 0.01), as well as significantly higher Decel Max (Bigs ES = 0.93; Guards ES = 0.87). These findings highlight the relevance of linear deceleration capacity as a potential determinant of lateral movement performance in elite basketball.