Hook Shot in Basketball: Technique, Skyhook, and Why It's Unblockable

A hook shot is a one-handed shot released in a sweeping, overhead arc while the shooter’s body is turned sideways between the ball and the defender — a positioning trick that makes it one of the hardest shots in basketball to block. It’s a staple of post play in both the NBA and WNBA, and its most famous version, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook, is widely regarded as the single most unstoppable shot in the sport’s history.

What Exactly Is a Hook Shot?

The hook shot is taken from close-to-mid range, usually in the low post or elbow area, with the shooter’s back or side turned toward the basket at the start of the move. Instead of squaring up like a jump shot, the shooter pivots so their body runs perpendicular to the rim. The ball starts low, gets shielded by the torso and off-arm, then sweeps upward in an arc — hand, wrist, and fingertips finishing the release well above the head, on the side of the body farthest from the defender.

That single detail — the shooter’s own body forming a wall between the ball and the defender — is what separates the hook shot from every other shot in the game. A jump shot or layup can be contested from the front or the side. A hook shot physically cannot, unless the defender fouls trying to reach across.

Where the Hook Shot Came From

The hook shot’s roots trace back to EuroBasket 1937, where Lithuanian forward Pranas Talzūnas is credited with an early version of the shot. Harlem Globetrotters showman Goose Tatum later popularized a flashier, no-look hook that became part of basketball’s entertainment lore.

The shot became a legitimate weapon, not just a trick, through George Mikan. Playing at DePaul in the 1940s and then with the Minneapolis Lakers, Mikan used his size and a reliable hook shot from both hands to dominate the era before he retired in 1956, effectively writing the blueprint every dominant post scorer since has followed.

The Skyhook: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Unblockable Shot

No player is more associated with the hook shot than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and no version of it is more famous than the skyhook. As a kid, Kareem developed the shot by repeating the “Mikan Drill” — the same footwork-and-touch drill named after George Mikan — over and over until the motion became second nature. The name “skyhook” itself came from Milwaukee Bucks radio announcer Eddie Doucette, who described the shot as being released so high that it was “coming out of the sky.”

The mechanics were simple but devastating: Kareem would catch the ball, pivot on his non-shooting foot, and instead of keeping that foot planted like a classic hook shot, he’d jump off the floor while extending his shooting arm to near-full height above his 7-foot-2 frame. Combined with his sideways body positioning, the release point was so high and so shielded that even elite shot-blockers like Wilt Chamberlain and Manute Bol rarely got a hand on it. Kareem rode the skyhook to becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, a record he held for nearly 40 years.

Magic Johnson borrowed a smaller-scale version of the move in the 1987 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, hitting a series-defining shot he called his “baby hook” as a direct nod to his Lakers teammate Kareem.

How to Shoot a Hook Shot: Step-by-Step Technique

Coaches break the classic hook shot into a repeatable sequence. Here’s the technique, whether you’re working on it in the driveway or teaching a post player in practice.

1. Catch and seal. Receive the ball with your back or side to the defender, using your body to seal them away from the ball.
2. Pivot on the non-shooting foot. A right-handed shooter pivots on the left foot, turning the body so the shoulders line up perpendicular to the basket rather than square to it.
3. Protect the ball with your off-arm. Extend the non-shooting arm toward the defender for balance and spacing — never to push off, which draws an offensive foul.
4. Sweep the shooting arm up in an arc. Keep the elbow locked close to the body and lift the ball from roughly ear-height, out and up, rather than pushing it straight forward like a set shot.
5. Release off the fingertips with a wrist snap. The shot finishes high overhead, on the far side of your body from the defender, with a soft snap of the wrist for touch and backspin.
6. Follow through toward the rim. Let the shooting hand finish pointed at the basket, the same follow-through discipline used on any other shot in the sport.

For a full breakdown of how this move compares to other post and perimeter releases, see SportsMonkie’s guide to the types of basketball shots.

Classic Hook vs. Skyhook vs. Jump Hook

Basketball has produced three main variations of the shot over the decades. Here’s how they stack up:

Version	Footwork	Release Point	Best Known For
Classic hook shot	Pivot foot stays planted on the floor	Shoulder to head height	George Mikan, Goose Tatum
Skyhook	Shooter jumps off the pivot foot	Near-full arm extension overhead	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Jump hook	Shooter jumps off both feet, like a jump shot	Above the shoulder, ball held more vertically	Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, modern centers

The jump hook is the version most common in today’s NBA and WNBA. It trades some of the skyhook’s height advantage for the balance and power of a two-foot jump shot, which is why players like Nikola Jokić and Joel Embiid use it as a counter move when a defender crowds their preferred post spin or fadeaway.

Why the Hook Shot Still Matters in Modern Basketball

Modern offenses lean heavily on three-pointers and rim attacks, and the pure skyhook has all but disappeared — Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon called the jump hook “a necessary shot that every center should have,” and that’s the form that survived. Nikola Jokić, Joel Embiid, and Bam Adebayo all mix hook shots and jump hooks into their post-up arsenals, and in the WNBA, post players like Brittney Griner and A’ja Wilson still use hooks and baby hooks to score over length in the paint.

The reason it endures is simple physics: against a bigger or longer defender, a shot that can’t be contested from the front is still one of the safest ways to score close to the rim. It works alongside other close-range counters, including the bank shot, as a core tool any post player needs when a direct drive to the rim isn’t available.

Quick Reference: Hook Shot Basics

• What it is: A one-handed shot swept upward in an arc, with the shooter’s body between the ball and the defender.
• Where it’s used: Primarily in the low post and elbow areas, close to the basket.
• Why it works: The body-shielding positioning makes it nearly impossible to block without fouling.
• Signature version: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook, the shot behind his NBA scoring record.
• Modern form: The jump hook, used by today’s post players across the NBA and WNBA.

The hook shot isn’t just a relic of Mikan and Kareem’s eras — it’s a permanent answer to a permanent problem in basketball: how to score when a longer, stronger defender is standing directly between you and the rim.