Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world, played by about 300 million people and supported by many more. In most of Europe it's popularity rivals that of football. In the United States it's popularity is rivalled only by that of American Football and Baseball. The NBA players are some of the highest paid sportsmen in the world, making the wages earned by British Footballers (with the exception now of David Beckham) seem almost insignificant.

Basketball was "invented" by Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian, whilst working at the YMCA Training Centre in Springfield, Massachusetts around 1891. Within 2 years the YMCA had taken the game to many other countries. It was first introduced as an Olympic Sport in the Berlin games of 1936.

In recent years the popularity of the sport has increased as satellite television and global marketing have increased peoples awareness of what were previously minority sports in the UK. Major NBA Basketball players have become household names throughout the world, most notably Michael Jordan, who at the peak of his career was the worlds highest paid sportsman. Jordan took the Chicago Bulls to an amazing 6 NBA championships throughout the 1990's.

Others who have popularised the sport in recent years are Shaquille O'Neal (Miami Heat), Kobe Bryant (LA Lakers) and Dennis Rodman (probably best known in the UK now for his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother!). There are of course many others who over the years have dominated the sport. If you wish to know more go the Useful Links page.

There are now many Europeans playing the sport in the NBA as well as extremely competitive & lucrative leagues throughout Europe. Europe is now able to compete with the USA on an equal level. Spain won last years World Championships, the USA having been knocked out in the semi-finals, despite fielding a strong and very well known line up of NBA players.

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