Basketball is one of the most popular sports on the planet, played by millions of people of every age and skill level. It started as a simple gym-class experiment and grew into a global phenomenon with its own legends, records, and rivalries.
Here are fact-checked facts about how the game began, how it evolved, and the players who made it famous.
Basketball was invented in December 1891 by Canadian physical education instructor Dr. James Naismith at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, to keep his students active during the winter.
Naismith's original game was played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets nailed to a gymnasium balcony as hoops.
The first official basketball game using Naismith's rules was played on January 20, 1892, in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Early basketballs were made of brown or tan leather panels, similar to the soccer balls of the era, rather than the bright orange, molded-panel balls used today.
Joe Fortenberry, a 6-foot-8 forward on the gold medal-winning 1936 U.S. Olympic basketball team, is widely credited with performing one of the first publicized slam dunks, at a game in Madison Square Garden, though some accounts describe similar dunks by other players slightly earlier.
The first NCAA men's basketball tournament, the forerunner of today's March Madness, was held in 1939 and was won by the University of Oregon.
On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scored 100 points in a single game against the New York Knicks, still the NBA single-game scoring record.
The Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL), founded in 1978, was the first women's professional basketball league in the United States and played until 1981.
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) began play in 1997 and remains the top women's professional basketball league in the U.S. today.
Michael Jordan, who played for the Chicago Bulls and later the Washington Wizards, won six NBA championships and five regular-season MVP awards, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
The Harlem Globetrotters, founded in 1926 and known for their comedic, exhibition style of basketball, have toured in more than 120 countries and territories.
Basketball is one of the most-watched sports in the world, alongside soccer and cricket, though which sport ranks exactly second depends on whether you measure by fans, viewership, or participation.
A regulation NBA basketball weighs about 22 ounces (roughly 620 grams) and has a circumference of about 29.5 inches.
Basketball became an official Olympic medal sport at the 1936 Berlin Games, the same Olympics where Joe Fortenberry's team won gold.
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