About
Basketball was invented by Canadian physician James Naismith in December 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, using peach baskets as goals. It was designed as an indoor winter sport and spread globally through YMCA networks. The NBA, founded in 1946, made basketball a premier global sport, with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and LeBron James as its global ambassadors.
With 450 million players worldwide, basketball is the world's second most popular team sport after soccer. The NBA generates $10 billion annually. The sport's global explosion was largely driven by Michael Jordan's 1992 Dream Team at the Barcelona Olympics and later by global broadcasting of NBA games.
# Top 10 Basketball facts
- 1Basketball was invented on December 21, 1891 — James Naismith nailed peach baskets to a gym balcony
- 2The NBA's global reach is enormous — 45% of its players are now international
- 3Michael Jordan's 1992 Dream Team is considered the greatest sports team ever assembled
Fascinating Facts
- ◆Basketball was invented on December 21, 1891 — James Naismith nailed peach baskets to a gym balcony
- ◆The NBA's global reach is enormous — 45% of its players are now international
- ◆Michael Jordan's 1992 Dream Team is considered the greatest sports team ever assembled
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