Ten fun facts about Basketball
Fact 1
In the very beginning of basketball, the color of most basketballs was brown, but lately, it's more common to see an orange basketball. The first company to produce a basketball for official use was Spalding, and they have produced the official NBA game ball since 1983.
Fact 2
The first basketball game took place in 1892, where the court was half the size of today's courts. The sport was invented by Canadian-American sports coach James Naismith. The first game was played for 30 minutes, and only one point was scored in the match.
Fact 3
The NBA (National Basketball Association) was founded in 1949, after the combination of the NBL (National Basketball League) and the BAA (Basketball Associate of America). 70 years later, the NBA generates more than $7 Billion in revenue and the average team in the NBA is worth around $1.25 Billion.
Fact 4
Basketball was first played by a soccer ball until it was changed in 1929. At first, the official basketball was brown and it wasn't until in the late 1950s that an orange ball was introduced in order to make the ball more visible for players and spectators.
Fact 5
Michael Jordan is considered to be one of the best basketball players in history. His record score of 32,292 points during his career made him a legend in the world of basketball. As of July 2021, the all-time scoring leader is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387.
Fact 6
At first, the game was played without backboards. But they were later added as the audience balcony used to interfere with the game by trying to punch the ball out of the basket. The backboards were originally made out of chicken wire but wooden backboards were added in 1904 due to safety reasons as spectators who still tried to interfere with the game hurt themselves on the chicken wire.
Fact 7
In 1967, slam dunks were banned from the game due to safety reasons and the fact that many didn't think it was a so-called "skillful shot"; nine years later it was allowed again.
Fact 8
The first basketball hoops were like a peach with a bottom, and every time the team scored, the referee would climb a ladder to get the ball. A hoop with a bottom cut out to allow the ball to fall through was introduced in 1906.
Fact 9
Women´s basketball was developed the same year as its men´s counterpart. However, some rules were modified to fit women. 1896 marked the first intercollegiate women's basketball game between Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.
Fact 10
The game became an Olympic game in 1936, at the Berlin Olympics. 21 teams competed and the very first Olympic gold medal was awarded to the United States. There have been 16 gold medals won by the United States since then, 14 more than the Soviet Union, the second-most gold medal winner.
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