In basketball, a buzzer beater is a shot taken just before the game clock of a period expires, when the buzzer sounds, and red lighting framed around the backboard and along the scorer's table lights up. The term is normally reserved for baskets that win or tie the game at the last moment (more appropriately called as a "walk-off buzzer beater"). If a player releases the ball "beating" the buzzer, so that it sounds while the ball is in mid-air, the shot still counts if it goes in. Often, a buzzer beating shot will be released from long range (even from beyond half court), making for a spectacular play when it connects.

Officials in the NCAA, NBA, Serie A (Italy), and Euroleague (Final Four series only, effective 2006) are required to use instant replay to assess whether a basket made at the end of a period was in fact released before the game clock expired. Since 2002, the NBA also has mandated duplicate light strips on both the backboard and on the scorer's table for the purpose of identifying the end of period.

Buzzer Beater is a manga series by Takehiko Inoue. The series debuted on the web and was later published in print format by Shueisha, being serialized in its Monthly Shōnen Jump manga magazine. It can be read on Inoue's website in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.

Buzzer Beater is Inoue's second manga to focus on basketball, following his very successful second manga series, Slam Dunk. The name of the manga comes from the term used for when a basket is scored at the same moment a period or the game itself ends. The story revolves around a basketball team from Earth assembled to participate in an intergalactic basketball competition.

Buzzer Beater is also Inoue's second manga series to have been adopted into an anime. A 13 episode TV series was produced by TMS Entertainment and premiered on WOWOW from February 5, 2005, ending its run on May 7, 2005. A second 13 episode series, continuing the story and also animated by TMS, premiered on Nippon Television on July 4, 2007 and ended its run on September 26, 2007. Both anime adaptations were supervised by Inoue. The anime series includes story elements and characters that were either hinted at or did not originally appear in the manga.