Basketball is one of the most popular team sports games of all time. Basically, people can be divided into those who love basketball and those who don’t. In two words, basketball is a game that is played between two teams of 5 players who are trying to toss a ball through the opponent’s basket called “hoop”.
Basketball is the only major sports game which originated in the United States. Its history dates back to 1891 when James Naismith, the instructor of physical education at the International Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Training School which is now Springfield College, basically invented it. The students were very excited, so the word about this new and interesting game spread quickly around. And in 1892 the rules of the game were published. The game was played everywhere: in schools, on playgrounds and in church halls etc.
Canada was the first country to play basketball outside the U.S. and after it started to spread through France, England, Australia, China, and Japan. Basketball started to grow in the United States and Globally in the years after World War II. In the United States, a whole new era of basketball started when in 1946 the Basketball Association of America was founded. After merging with the competing National Basketball League, it changed its name to the National Basketball Association in 1949. The league was composed of 29 teams in America and 1 team in Canada.
The colour barrier and the complete change of NBA
Originally the NBA was played only by white players, but in the 1947-48 season the so-called colour barrier was broken when Wataru Misaka, a Japanese-American player, started to play for the New York Knicks. He was the first and only non-white player to join the NBA until in 1950 the first African-American player appeared on the scene. It was Harold Hunter who got signed with Washington Capitols in 1950, unfortunately, he was cut off during the training camp and never played professionally for any NBA team. However, later that year several other African-American players did join the NBA and played, among them was Chuck Cooper with the Boston Celtics and Earl Lloyd with the Washington Capitols. This changed the entire course of NBA and the basketball.
In 1979 Larry Bird and Magic Johnson joined the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. They brought new popularity to the game. And in 1984 the legendary Michael Jordan entered the league with the Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan was named the 20th century’s greatest North American athlete by ESPN in 1999, and he became one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation. Jordan had given the success of Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1984 and remain popular today. He also starred as himself in the 1996 live-action half-animation film Space Jam 2020 Netflix released the Emmy Award-winning documentary miniseries The Last Dance.
In the coming decades, the NBA brought such names as Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, who tragically died in 2020. Bryant was called one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the NBA. And in 2008 and again in 2016, ESPN ranked him the second-greatest shooting guard of all time, after Jordan.
Basketball popularity in the real and virtual world
Nowadays, basketball has become one of the most popular and available sports. You can observe a basketball court in almost every corner of our planet. It is a sport that you can both play and watch. You can play it in person or on a virtual platform, you can watch it via TV or an online streaming service. You can play NBA games on PlayStation, XBOX, Nintendo etc. In the modern world, you can not only play and watch games but also make a profit from them. Hundreds of different online casinos and betting websites give you the chance to make money from your knowledge and love for this game. Millions of people are watching the live streams of the NBA’s playoffs, betting money on their favourite teams and players. There are several ways how you can profit from your love for the game, you can bet on a betting platform, you can join an online casino which has a betting platform included in its services, or you can play virtual sports against other players in real-time. People all around the Globe can place their bets on college basketball, NBA playoffs and other major leagues and national competitions, like Fiba World Cup, etc. You can place a bet and watch the live stream of the game at the same time on your Smart TV, laptop or smartphone. But if you decide to place a bet, make sure that you use a licensed platform and be aware of gambling addiction.