Origin

James Naismith, a physical education teacher at a Yong Men's Christian Association (YMCA), was in need of finding an activity for his students to play in the gym to stay out of the freezing winter. On December 1891, James Naismith the the original 13 rules of basketball. It consisted of nine players on each team. The goal was to toss a soccer ball into peach baskets that were nailed on each side of the school's gyms. Soon after, in 1898, the first professional basketball league was founded. However, it took another seven years to change the peach baskets into nets. Now, this beloved sport is watched and played by millions of fans around the globe.

The beginning of NBA

On August 3, 1949, after a damaging three-year battle to win both players and fans, the rival Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball League (NBL) merge to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). On August 3, 1949, representatives from the two leagues met at the BAA offices in New York’s Empire State Building to finalize the merger. Maurice Podoloff, head of the BAA since its inception, was elected head of the new league. The new NBA was made up of 17 teams that represented both small towns and large cities across the country. Through the 1950s, though, the number of teams dwindled, along with fan support, and by the 1954-55 season, only eight teams remained. That year, the league transformed the game with the creation of the 24-second clock, making play faster-paced and more fun to watch. Fans returned, and the league, now financially solvent, expanded throughout the 1960s and '70s. Today, the NBA attracts players—and millions of fans—from countries around the world.