CPSC, Lifetime Products Inc. and Escalade Sports Announce Recall to Repair Portable Basketball Hoops
Home product recall 02-129. Announced by CPSC on Mar 28, 2002.
- CPSC: stop using it
Watch and the shortlist are kept with a free account, on every device. Your watch list. CPSC’s own notice is on cpsc.gov.
The short answer
Announced by CPSC on Mar 28, 2002. Copied from CPSC on Oct 19, 2026.
- Stop using it what CPSC tells owners to do now (needs attention)
- About 1.7 million Lifetime portable hoops, and about 16,000 Escalade portable hoops units, as CPSC gives them
- Reported injuries, in the notice (needs attention)
Every line below is in CPSC’s own words, with its source beside it.
What’s wrong with it?
The basketball hoops may have a sharp protruding bolt on the players’ side of the pole, that can cause serious leg or body lacerations to consumers, when the bolt is exposed.
CPSC, Recalls API. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
What should you do?
Consumers should stop using the basketball hoops immediately and contact Lifetime Products or Escalade Sports to receive free cap nuts to cover the bolts. Consumers should call and get a cap nut, regardless of whether their bolt protrudes or not.
CPSC, Recalls API. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
- How to reach the firm: Consumers can contact Lifetime Products Inc. at (800) 225-3865 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. MT or 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday. Escalade Sports can be reached at (800) 467-1397 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.
Which ones are recalled?
All Lifetime portable basketball system models, except the “Quick Court” are included in the recall. The Escalade Sports basketball hoop models included in the recall are the Harvard, The Big Easy, B3100, B3301, B3302, B3303, B3304, B3305, B3306, B3403, B3500, Spalding, The Big Easy B3402 and Apex B9995, Mini Court, Alley Court. These portable basketball hoops come unassembled with a flat plastic base that is weighted down by either sand or water that is added during assembly. The basketball poles are made of black metal. The brand names or model names may appear on the backboard, main pole or the flat plastic base of the basketball hoops.
About 1.7 million Lifetime portable hoops, and about 16,000 Escalade portable hoops units, as CPSC gives them.
Portable basketball hoops.
CPSC, Recalls API. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
CPSC’s photos
CPSC shows 3 photos on its notice. Hearth Record doesn’t copy them; each opens on cpsc.gov.
Who made and sold it?
- Made by Lifetime Products Inc., Clearfield, Utah.
- Made by Escalade Sports, Evansville, Ind.
- Sporting goods, department and toy stores, including Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target and Toys R Us nationwide sold the Lifetime basketball hoops, between January 1994 and July 2000, and the Escalade Sports basketball hoops, between March 1994 and December 2001, for between $80 and $500.
CPSC, Recalls API. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
Was anyone hurt?
CPSC and Lifetime Products Inc. have received 27 reports of injuries and Escalade Sports has received one report of injury from the basketball hoop bolt. Injuries include scrapes, deep lacerations and bruises. Several consumers required stitches for their injuries. Players have been cut when they bump into the pole as they drive toward the basket.
CPSC, Recalls API. Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily.
What the record doesn’t say
- The notice lists no UPCs, so check the model, the description and the photos.
- The notice lists no model numbers in a field of their own; its description may give them.
- How many have been returned or fixed isn’t in the notice.
Hearth Record wrote these lines.
Sources
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U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Recalls API.
Checked Oct 19, 2026. Updated daily. Public domain (U.S. Government work). CPSC asks to be credited, and that no endorsement be implied.
Recalls of kids’ and home products are from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). CPSC does not endorse Hearth Record. Copied on Oct 19, 2026.