When did Basketball become a professional sport?
From London to New York to Paris to Beijing and everywhere in between the game of Basketball is played. Athletes from all the corners of the world are interested in basketball training to play professional basketball. Have you ever wondered how did basketball become so popular sport? How basketball got invented? When young boys started following basketball like crazy? Well, if yes, then read on to get all your answers.
The Origin of Basketball
Basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith. He was from Ontario, Canada. James Naismith was assigned the task to prepare a new indoor sport so he created a game by hanging two buckets on tall beams and then split his class into 2 teams (18 players in total), and handed over them a ball. The soccer ball was used here. He instructed that whichever team puts the ball in their bucket the most will win. Quite simple and basic then, but that begun the game of basketball. Initially, there were only thirteen rules to follow and then over time, more rules got appended.
The Origin of Professional Basketball
The first competitive basketball league was played between the larger east coast cities like Philadelphia, New York and Boston participated. On November 7, 1896 the first known professional basketball game was played in New Jersey between the Brooklyn YMCA and the Trenton YMCA. This match was played at the Trenton Masonic temple of New Jersey, and an entry fee was charged from people who came to watch the game. Each participating player got $15 (fee) except Fred Cooper, who got $16 (became the first highest paid basketball player). Trenton YMCA defeated Brooklyn YMCA by 15-1 and won the first ever professional basketball game of the history.
Shortly after two years of this historic basketball match, the National Basketball League was announced. Various teams from Eastern United States participated in this league. NBL lasted 5 seasons.
In 1946 the Basketball Association of America was created. The top teams were made professional. The very first professional basketball game was played in Toronto, Canada. They were American teams, though. Then just 3 later it became the National Basketball Association (NBA).
This is the scintillating history of the professional basketball game!
