Assessing Sprint Mechanical Outputs Derived from LPS, Radar and Laser Technologies in Basketball

Sprint mechanical profiling is widely used in team sports, yet the agreement between field-based measurement systems in indoor environments remains unclear. This study compared sprint mechanical outputs derived from a Kinexon local positioning system (LPS), radar, and laser during maximal indoor basketball sprints and examined their inter-system agreement and inter-trial reliability. Twenty-two elite youth basketball players performed maximal 28 m linear sprints recorded simultaneously using the three technologies. Sprint kinematics were modeled using a mono-exponential approach applied to the native signals provided by each system to derive theoretical maximal velocity (S0), theoretical maximal acceleration (A0), and acceleration time constant (Tau). Inter-system agreement was assessed using mean bias and 95% limits of agreement, while inter-trial reliability was evaluated using coefficients of variation (CV), change in the mean, and standard error of measurement. Radar and laser showed close agreement for S0 (bias = −0.07 ± 0.17 m·s−1; relative error = 0.89%), whereas LPS systematically overestimated S0, with relative systematic errors of 5.26–6.49%. Acceleration-related parameters exhibited larger inter-system discrepancies, with relative errors up to 3.92% for A0 and 10.55% for Tau. Inter-trial reliability was high across all systems (CV < 1.5% for S0 and 3.7–4.7% for A0 and Tau). These findings indicate that sprint mechanical outputs should not be used interchangeably across technologies, particularly for acceleration-related variables, although all systems remain suitable for within-system longitudinal monitoring in applied basketball settings.