Basketball

Basketball is a sport in which two teams compete to control a ball, using special techniques such as dribbling and passing, and score by shooting the ball through an elevated hoop or basket at the opponent's end of a rectangular court. It is one of the most popular sports in the world. The National Basketball Association (NBA), which includes teams located in the United States and Canada, is the premier professional basketball league, drawing stars from around the world. NBA superstars such as Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James have often become iconic celebrities. American professional basketball has far-reaching influence; many of the NBA’s top players represent their respective home countries in the Olympics and other international tournaments.

Although NBA basketball is considered the top echelon of the sport, there are other leagues in North America and around the world. For example, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) began its first season in 1997. Professional basketball leagues also exist across Asia and Europe. These leagues offer opportunities for aspiring and former NBA players to play organized ball in front of large audiences. Basketball is also popular at the collegiate level and is played recreationally by millions of people worldwide.

Origins and History

Basketball has a long and colorful history. Archeologists have unearthed rubber balls made as early as 1500 BCE, along with stone hoops and playing courts, in what is now Nicaragua. In the 1500s, Spanish conquistadores reported the widespread popularity among Central and South American natives of a game called tlachtli, wherein players would attempt to throw a hard rubber ball (made by plying into spheres the resin from rubber trees) through a stone hoop, while spectators placed wagers on the action. Researchers have found evidence of tlachtli play in the Aztec, Zapotec, Mayan, Veracruz, and other ancient Mesoamerican civilizations. The precise rules of this proto-basketball game remain unknown, but experts believe it was highly physical.

In its modern form, basketball appeared more than thirty-three hundred years after the first Mesoamerican ball games were played. A Canadian graduate student, James Naismith, traveled to Springfield College in Massachusetts in 1891. A theology student, Naismith was also a sports enthusiast and entered the college to study physical education. A year into his studies, Naismith was tasked with creating a new game that athletes at the nearby YMCA could play indoors during the cold winter months. He nailed up two peach baskets on either side of a playing court and established a set of rules for the two opposing teams of nine players each to follow when shooting the ball. More than a century later, most of Naismith’s rules remain in the NBA rule book, with some modifications.

The game of basketball began to generate popularity in YMCAs throughout the northeast United States and eastern Canada. Because of the amount of physical contact involved, the YMCA’s headquarters soured on promoting the sport in the first few years of its existence. However, individual YMCA chapters continued playing the game, spurred on by the growth of competitive basketball leagues. In November 1896, the first professional game—between the teams of the Trenton and Brooklyn YMCAs—was played. That game inspired others, as professional and intercollegiate leagues emerged during the early twentieth century. On the collegiate level, the rough nature of the sport prompted the establishment of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association (now known as the NCAA). On the professional level, many different leagues and teams came and went over the years. In the early twentieth century, barnstorming teams became popular, playing theatrical exhibition games around the country; the Harlem Globetrotters became the most famous example of such independent clubs.

Basketball continued to grow modestly in popularity until the Great Depression. The largest group of professional teams, the American Basketball League (ABL) lost its financial strength and was nearly forced to cease operations. The sport then experienced a resurgence after the Depression, with the ABL and the National Basketball League (NBL) as the main professional leagues. Their operations remained relatively small-scale, however, which led a group of business leaders to form a rival league, the Basketball Association of America (BAA), in 1946, with teams playing in larger urban arenas. Then, in 1949, NBL and BAA owners came to a compromise, combining the two leagues to create the NBA.

The NBA steadily established itself as one of North America's major sports leagues through the 1950s and 1960s, drawing on the rising popularity of collegiate basketball as well. In 1950, the league notably included Black players for the first time. During this era many rules of the game were refined and playing styles evolved. Meanwhile, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), founded in 1932, emerged as the governing body for international competition, including the men's and women's Basketball World Cups held for the first time in the early 1950s. Still, the United States remained the epicenter of the basketball world. In 1967 the American Basketball Association (ABA) was founded as a challenger to the NBA's professional dominance, adopting more offense-oriented rules and play, including the three-point shot. In 1979, amid a broad decline in basketball viewership, the ABA merged with the NBA, influencing the direction of the league and of basketball in general. A new wave of NBA superstars in the 1980s and 90s—culminating with Michael Jordan, widely considered the greatest player of all time—then brought a fresh surge of popular attention to the sport while continuing to evolve the game itself.

Rules and Regulations

Basketball’s specific rules and regulations differ somewhat between leagues. For example, the NBA uses four quarters of play at twelve minutes each, while the NCAA simply uses two twenty-minute halves. The WNBA (which is owned by the NBA) also has its own set of timing and court-configuration rules.

In general, however, basketball is played between two teams of five active players each. Each player has a different position; traditionally these are power forward, small forward, shooting guard, point guard, and center, though at times the lines between these positions is blurred. Teams also have substitute players on the bench, who may enter the game during moments when the clock is stopped. The goal of the game is to shoot the ball through a raised hoop from above.

There are three types of scores a player may make: two points, three points, and one-point free-throw shots. Two-point shots are made from inside of a painted arc on the court. Outside of that arc, a shot is worth three points. When a player makes illegal contact with another player during play, the victim may be awarded one, two, or three free throws, depending on the manner in which and where the foul occurs.

The court is divided into two halves to be defended by each team. After the first half of play, the teams switch sides. In the NBA, when the ball enters play at one end of the court, the team defending that court has eight seconds to move the ball past the dividing line on the court and into the opposing team’s side. Once the ball enters play, a team has twenty-four seconds to shoot—if the ball does not make contact with the rim of the hoop within those twenty-four seconds, the ball is given to the opposing team.

The ball is advanced by passing, shooting, and dribbling. A player can take one step without dribbling the ball, but once they lift their pivot foot without dribbling, the ball handler can be called for traveling—a violation that returns the ball to the opposing team. Other penalties in basketball are assessed for unintentional physical contact, a flagrant foul (for unnecessary roughness), and a technical foul (not based on physical contact but on unsportsmanlike conduct). Another penalty centers on shot blocking: a shot may be blocked by a defender if the ball is still going up into the air. If a defender touches the ball while the shot is arcing downward toward the basket, and the referee feels there exists a chance to score, the referee may call goaltending, and automatically assign two or three points—depending on the location from which the shot was taken—to the shooter. All of these penalties, as well as the official score, game time, and substitutions, are managed and recorded at the scoring table, which is located between the two teams’ benches.

Strategy and Tactics

Basketball is a game of endurance, speed, and physicality. Teams must carefully balance these characteristics based on the manner of play of their opponent. For example, if one team has larger players on the court, the opposing coach might put a smaller, faster team in play in order to quickly move the ball around slower defenders. A coach may also opt to put a group of the team’s tallest and/or largest players on the court in order to match the opposing team’s physicality.

Another important element of play is advancing the ball to a position where the optimal shot can be made. Teams employ a number of coordinated plays that block out defenders and put shooters in the best position to take a shot. Passing is an essential part of the game—players must be wary of shooting the ball from a questionable spot when another player may be better positioned for a shot. Finally, the offensive team must have personnel near the rim to collect rebounds of missed shots and put the ball back into play so that another shot may be attempted.

On the defensive side of the court, teams must be well-coordinated to disrupt the opposing team’s offense. Some teams use a zone defense in which the defenders assume positions in certain areas of the court to disrupt passing lanes and ball movement, regardless of the individual offensive player who enters those zones. Also employed are “man-to-man” defenses, pairing individual players against evenly matched (in terms of height, speed, or position) opponents. Teams often switch between man-to-man and zone defense as the game’s dynamic changes. Under the rim, defenders must be positioned after a shot attempt in order to collect rebounds and move the ball into the other side of the court.

Professional Leagues and Series

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is considered the top level of professional basketball in the world. While the league's internal structure has changed over the years, by the early twenty-first century it consisted of two conferences: the East and the West. Within these conferences are three divisions, each of which comprises five teams. In the East, the divisions are the Atlantic, the Central, and the Southeast. The West consists of the Northwest, Pacific, and Southwest divisions. The NBA plays its regular season from late October through late April. At the end of the regular season, the top six teams from each conference advance directly to the playoffs, while the seventh- through tenth-ranked teams compete in a postseason "play-in" tournament to determine two more playoff contenders in each conference. The eight playoff teams within each conference are then seeded according to their records. Each playoff matchup is a best-of-seven-game series; the team with the higher seed hosts games one, two, five, and seven on their home court, while the lower-seeded team plays games three, four, and six on their home court. The first three playoff rounds are separated by conference, with losing teams eliminated. The winner of each Conference Finals advances to the league championship round, known as the NBA Finals, which is again a best-of-seven series, taking place in mid-June.

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) season usually begins around the time that the NBA playoffs are occurring. Owned by the NBA, the WNBA consists of two conferences—the Eastern and the Western—each of which comprised six teams by the 2020s (expansion teams were slated to join in 2025 and 2026). In addition to big-market cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago (in which NBA teams also operate), the WNBA also has teams in smaller markets such as Connecticut. At the end of the regular season, the top eight teams overall are awarded playoff berths and are seeded according to their records. The first round is played in a best-of-three series, while the semifinals and finals are best-of-five.

In addition to the NBA and WNBA, there are a number of major international professional basketball leagues. Because of the extreme competitiveness of the NBA, many aspiring professionals (as well as veteran players whose best playing days are behind them) often sign contracts to play in these leagues, giving them an opportunity to play competitive basketball in front of sizable audiences at reasonable salaries. Among the many international countries in which these leagues operate are Turkey, Greece, China, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Each of these leagues has its own playoff format, giving players even more opportunities for high levels of media exposure that can attract NBA scouts.

Still another level of professional basketball play is similar to the minor leagues of baseball. The NBA’s G League (previously known as the Development League or “D-League”) consists of teams affiliated with NBA teams. Frequently, players whose skills are still in need of improvement to make them worthy of an NBA contract will play for one of the G League’s teams. G League teams are often located in smaller markets, allowing more fans to attend high-level basketball games.

Popularity

Basketball—particularly as its played in the NBA—is one of the most popular professional sports in the world. One of the main reasons for this widespread popularity is the amount of money invested in the highest level of professional play. The NBA, which generates significant revenues from ticket sales, is bolstered by sponsorships from media, sports apparel companies, and other businesses. The NBA’s most prominent players have contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. Star players also often get endorsement deals with sports retailers and other businesses. Such arrangements give these players—as well as the NBA itself—a degree of visibility that spans the globe.

In the 2000s, the NBA started playing select preseason and regular season games abroad to reach a wider audience. Games are also often broadcast worldwide. These moves helped basketball steadily earn increasing popularity in many other countries, including China, Russia, and the United Kingdom, with both domestic leagues and international competition gaining strong followings. In turn, a growing number of international players found significant success in the NBA in the 2010s and early 2020s, further boosting the sport's global visibility.

In the United States, despite basketball's continued popularity, viewership ratings have at times proved volatile. For example, according to the Wall Street Journal, the two main channels that broadcast NBA games—ESPN and TNT—saw 10 and 12 percent drops in viewership, respectively, in 2014. This decline was attributed in part to an overall decline in cable customers and subscribers. Viewership and especially game attendance were also significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in 2020; the 2019–20 NBA season was disrupted and the 2020–21 season was shortened. Nevertheless, basketball remained among the most popular and lucrative of American sports. In 2024, it was announced that the NBA had agreed to a new, eleven-year media rights deal worth approximately $76 billion, reflecting ongoing strong popular demand.

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