Abstract

The interest for talent detection has been studied from different approaches. One of them is checking how many of the sports people reaching the highest level had also stood out when younger. Knowing the data for other sports, we aim at analyzing the correlation of basketball players participation in national teams among the cadet, junior, youth (under 22’s), and senior categories. The selected sample has consisted of the Spanish players born between 1974 and 1981. The data have provided very interesting results, standing, among others, the fact that most international cadet players never reach the senior category and only half of them reach the ACB. In the júnior and youth categories, these data increase proportionally, i.e., international players between these ages have more probabilities of playing in the senior category. These data lead us to reflect on the process of talent selection in the cadet and lower categories.