Pump Fake: Basketball technique, drills and fixes

The pump fake (shot fake) starts your shot without finishing it, so the defender jumps or rises to contest. Then you drive past them, shoot with the space you made, or pass. It only works if it looks like your real shot while your knees stay bent and your feet stay on the floor.

Set up

Catch the ball squared up to the basket with your knees bent and your body down, ready to shoot.

Down and ready.

Use it when the defender closes out hard at you, or once you've hit a shot or two and they have to respect it. It also works against a defender standing still.

They have to believe the shot.

Hold the ball in front of your body, in the same spot your real shot starts from.

Fake

Look at the rim, not the defender, as you start the motion.

Eyes sell it.

Lift the ball toward your forehead along the same path as your shot. It doesn't need to go higher than your face.

Same path, same look.

Let your body rise only a little. Keep your knees bent; don't straighten up.

Ball goes up, hips stay down.

Stop the ball at about forehead height. Keep both feet on the floor until you choose your move.

Feet glued.

Read and go

If the defender jumps or rises, bring the ball straight down to the hip opposite the way you're going (going right, ball to your left hip).

Ball down fast.

Sweep the ball through low and push the dribble out before your pivot foot leaves the floor. Make your first step land past the defender's hip.

Ball out, then go.

If a closing defender flies past you, take one or two dribbles to adjust and shoot the open shot.

If the defender doesn't bite, don't stand there holding it. Pass, or go into another move.

No bite, move it.

Under the basket off a jump stop: shot fake, pause a beat with your body still down to read the defender, then go up strong off two feet.

Fake, pause, finish.

If you do leave the floor on the fake, you must shoot or pass before either foot lands. Landing with the ball is a travel under NBA and FIBA rules (high school and college not checked here).

Up means it's gone.

Feel it

From the shoulders up it looks like your normal shot: eyes on the rim, ball rising toward your forehead. From the hips down nothing has changed: knees still bent, feet flat on the floor, weight ready to push. You should feel loaded, not tall. If you'd have to bend again before you could drive, you came up too far.

Fix-its

A quick, jerky pump that looks nothing like your shot Use your real shot's start: same ball path, same eyes on the rim, stopping at about forehead height. Film a fake next to a real shot and compare.
You straighten up on the fake Only the ball and your eyes go up. Keep your knees bent so you can explode the moment they bite.
You leave the floor, or shuffle your feet Keep both feet down until you choose your move. To drive, the ball must leave your hand before your pivot foot lifts.
You hold the ball when they don't bite If the defender stays down, pass right away or go into another move. Holding it stalls the offense.
You drive with the ball high or wide After the fake, bring the ball down to the opposite hip, sweep it through low, and aim your first step past their hip.

Drill

Fake-and-sweep: from a squared-up catch, shot fake, bring the ball to the opposite hip, sweep low and drive. Go both directions.
Jump stop, shot fake, finish: off a jump stop near the basket, make a realistic fake with your body staying down, pause, then go up strong.
Jump stop, shot fake, step through: same start, pause after the fake to read which way the defender went, step by them low and finish off two feet. Go both directions.
Closeout and drive: a partner passes to you, then rushes out and closes out tight. Shot fake and drive hard to the hoop.
Closeout and pull-up: same set-up, but when the defender runs past, take one or two dribbles and shoot.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-26.