In sports, the motivation of athletes can be the key to success. Motivation, as a concept, was offered a wide range of interpretations, many of which were developed from a managerial perspective that highlights a better understanding of the mechanisms of motivation of human character. Objectives. Identifying the reasons for playing basketball by athletes aged 14- 15, but also highlighting the motivational performance factors by comparing two teams with different competitive results. Methods and means. To carry out this study, the survey method was used by filling in a questionnaire by the basketball players of the two sports clubs. The questionnaire includes 24 questions and refers to the causes that athletes find motivating to practice the game of basketball. Results. The results presented show for each category the average level of motivation that underlies the engagement in the basketball game of each team studied. In the “amotivation” category, both teams have a result of 1, thus eliminating the risk of abandoning the sports activity. Regarding the ""external regulation"", U-BT athletes have a higher score, thus resulting in a higher extrinsic motivation based on praise or external factors. Both teams scored high on ""intrinsic motivation"", demonstrating that athletes practice basketball voluntarily. Conclusions. In conclusion, these variations can be justified due to the transition age in which the athletes are, the players coming to detach themselves from the concrete and situate the real in a set of possible transformations. This study illustrates a motivational portrait of junior teams engaged in the domestic national championship."