Abstract
The aims of this study were two-fold: (1) to inspect separately for the relative age and birthplace effects for players selected in the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft; (2) to explore the interaction among these factors and analyse this interaction in players' career performance. The database was obtained from the official records of the players (n = 1,738), who were selected during the annual editions of the NBA Draft from 1990 to 2019. The participants' date of birth was analyzed according to the month of birth and divided into four quartiles. The place of birth was compared to the distribution of the general population' places of birth based on different communities' sizes. Chi-square analysis were used to determine if the relative age and birthplace of the players drafted differed in any systematic way from official census population distributions. Cluster analysis and standardized residuals were calculated to analyse the interaction among the contextual factors and the players' career performance. The data revealed that early-born players (Q1 and Q2) were over-represented. Moreover, players born in smaller cities (<100,000) were over-represented. The interaction analysis revealed that the players born in the bigger communities relate mainly with relatively younger players, and clusters that correspond to players born in smaller communities integrated the relatively older players. No differences were found in the players' career performance. Researchers, coaches and practitioners should be aware of the interaction between contextual factors to help nurture the development of sport talent regardless of age-related issues or communities' size.
Highlights
A growing core of scientific research has shown that contextual factors play a key role in talent development (Baker et al, 2009; Rees et al, 2016; Williams et al, 2020)
The analysis of the relative age effect (RAE) for players born in European countries revealed similar results, the higher percentage was observed in Q2 (32.1%)
For USA players, the likelihood of player born is Q1 being selected to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) yielded an Odds ratios (OR) higher than 1 [OR = 1.236, confidence intervals (CI) (1.044–1.465)]; similar results were found for European players, as Q1 and Q2 presented an OR higher than 1 [OR = 1.148, CI (0.760–1.734); OR = 1.378, CI (0.924–2.051), respectively]
Summary
A growing core of scientific research has shown that contextual factors play a key role in talent development (Baker et al, 2009; Rees et al, 2016; Williams et al, 2020). Evidence confirm this phenomenon, in which individuals born earlier in the selection year relative to a predetermined cut-off date (e.g., January 1–December 31) are often overrepresented compared to those born later in the same selection year (Fumarco et al, 2017; please see De la Rubia et al, 2020a). In this sense, relatively older athletes are systematically associated with higher stature and better aerobic capacity, endurance and speed, what provides them with a competitive advantage in physical performance (Rada et al, 2018). Relatively late-born athletes are more unlikely to obtain similar early opportunities, which will inevitably make their road to success more difficult (Arede et al, 2019a)
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