What Is My Vertical If I Can Touch the Rim? (Reverse Jump Calculator)
Work out your vertical jump from the highest point you can touch. The exact heights of the rim, backboard and net, plus why a measured touch is more accurate than any jump test.
Most people never measure their vertical properly, but almost everyone knows what they can touch. "I can just get the rim." "I can grab the net." "I can slap the backboard." That is enough — the arithmetic runs backwards.
Your Vertical = Highest Point You Can Touch − Your Standing Reach
That is the entire method. If you can touch the rim at 120 inches and your standing reach is 90 inches, your vertical is 30 inches. The calculator does this for you — enter your touch height and it returns your vertical, your dunk gap, and how far you are from every other milestone.
The reference heights you need
On a regulation setup, these are the landmarks worth measuring against:
| Landmark | Height off the floor |
|---|---|
| Bottom of the net (approx.) | 105" (8'9") |
| Bottom of the backboard | 108" (9'0") |
| The rim | 120" (10'0") |
| Grabbing / hanging on the rim | ~122" |
| One-hand dunk | 126" (10'6") |
| Two-hand dunk | 129" (10'9") |
| Top of the inner square | 138" (11'6") |
The backboard number surprises people. Its bottom edge sits a full 12 inches below the rim, so "I can touch the backboard" is a materially easier feat than "I can touch the rim" — a foot of vertical separates them. Nets vary in length between about 15 and 18 inches, so treat the net figure as approximate.
Worked examples
"I'm 5'4" and I can touch 10 feet." A 5'4" player (64 inches) has an estimated reach of about 85 inches. Touching the rim at 120 inches means a vertical of 120 − 85 = 35 inches. That is a serious jump. To dunk one-handed they would need 41 inches, so they are about 6 inches away.
"I'm 5'8" and I can just grab the rim." Estimated reach 90.4 inches. Grabbing the rim means getting a hand to roughly 122 inches, so the vertical is about 31.6 inches — and the one-hand dunk target of 35.6 inches is 4 inches off.
"I'm 6'0" and I can touch the bottom of the backboard." Estimated reach 95.8 inches, backboard bottom at 108 inches, so the vertical is about 12 inches. That is well below average and means there is a lot of headroom to train.
Why this beats a standard jump test
A measured touch is usually more accurate than a self-reported vertical, for three reasons.
It is a real jump. Vertical-jump apps and vane testers measure hip displacement or flight time under test conditions. A touch measures the thing you actually care about: how high your hand gets.
It already includes your approach. If you took a run-up to reach that mark, the run-up is baked into the number. This matters — our calculator deliberately does not add the usual 4-inch approach bonus on top of a measured touch, because that would double-count it. A self-reported "30-inch vertical" is ambiguous about whether it was standing or running; a touch height is not.
It removes the reach guess. If you measure both your standing reach and your max touch against the same wall, the subtraction cancels out any error in where you called "the floor."
The one thing that can throw it off
Your standing reach has to be measured properly, or the subtraction inherits the error. Stand flat-footed against a wall in socks or bare feet, push the shoulder of your reaching arm as high as it will go, and mark the fingertip. Do not stand on your toes, and do not measure in shoes unless you also jump in them.
Get that right and the reverse calculation is the most reliable number you will get without a lab. Run yours through the calculator and it will also tell you exactly how many inches sit between you and a dunk.
Ready to run the numbers?
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