The free throw line in basketball is 15 feet (about 4.57 m) horizontally from the front of the backboard, which puts it roughly 13 feet 9 inches from the center of the hoop since the rim extends out from the backboard.

Basic measurement

  • Regulation courts (NBA, NCAA, high school, FIBA) all place the free throw line 15 feet from the front face of the backboard.
  • In metric terms, this is usually listed as 4.57 m (often rounded as 4.6 m in FIBA-style descriptions).

From shooter to hoop

  • Because the rim sticks out from the backboard, the actual ball travel distance from the free throw line to the center of the hoop is a bit less than 15 feet, around 13 feet 9 inches.
  • For practice or court marking, the important regulation number to follow is still the 15-foot distance from the backboard to the foul line.

TL;DR: The free throw line is 15 feet from the backboard, which works out to about 14 feet from the front of the rim and about 13 feet 9 inches to the center of the hoop.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.