Basketball is an incredibly popular sport in the United States of America and many other countries around the world. However, not everybody is quite as into it as the Americans are. It certainly isn’t as popular in other parts of the world as something like football.

But basketball is incredibly popular and it’s been going for a long time, and the NBA is the National Basketball Association – the premier men’s professional basketball league in the world. The NBA comprises of 30 different teams and it has a massive fan base – so large, in fact, that the league generates billions of dollars annually. There are even massive betting pools and competitions for fans, including NBA final betting and more.

So if you don’t know much about basketball and the NBA, we’re going to fill you in on some of the most interesting facts about the sport.

1. Basketball players are known for their height, but the tallest every professional player was a whopping seven feet and seven inches tall. His name was Gheorghe Muresan.
2. The shortest professional basketball player of all time, on the other hand, was a man named Muggsy Bogues – he was only five feet and three inches tall. That’s more than two feet shorter than Muresan!
3. “NBA” stands for the National Basketball Association, but it was actually originally called the BAA – the Basketball Association of America.
4. Michael Jordan – a name you’re most likely very familiar with – is often referred to as the best basketball player of all time, and for good reason. During his career, he managed to win six NBA Championships and five NBA MVP awards – both of which are coveted titles.
5. The NBA is a league where they do an all-star game, something that fans of other sports can only dream of. Every year, they invite the NBA’s top players to play a match absolutely adored by fans. The first game was played in 1951 and it’s been going ever since then.
6. To get a place on a team in the NBA, players have to take part in a highly competitive system. Essentially, every year there is what they call a draft – this consists of two rounds, and in each round, each team gets to pick one player. A lottery system determines the order of the draft.
7. The NBA tries really hard to make the league as competitive as possible by imposing a salary cap for players. This is determined by the revenue generated by the entire league.
8. Over the years, the NBA has introduced lots of new rule changes to keep the matches interesting. For instance, in 1954 they introduced one of the most significant changes of all time – the shot clock. It meant that the teams would only have a limited amount of time to take a shot (when they were within range). If they didn’t take the shot in time, they’d lose the ball. This helps to keep the game nice and quick – and it certainly isn’t boring for the players or spectators!