The
key, officially referred to as the
free throw lane by the
National Basketball Association (NBA) and the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the
restricted area by the
international governing body FIBA, and colloquially as the
lane or the
paint, is an area on a
basketball court underneath the basket bounded by the endline, the foul line and other lines which are known as freebody lines, that are usually painted (although unpainted on some courts with painted perimeters). It is a critical area on the court where much of the action takes place in a game. Restrictions areas under the key is also an area the defender can not be in more than 3 seconds, not including the key