Basketball was invented in a single winter in 1891 by a Canadian teacher who needed an indoor game, and more than 134 years later its top league crowned the New York Knicks after a Finals series that ended on 13 June 2026.
Basketball was created by James Naismith, a Canadian physical education instructor, in December 1891 at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, according to Wikipedia’s history of the sport. He designed it as an indoor game that would keep athletes active during the winter. Naismith published 13 foundational rules, which covered throwing the ball, banned running with it and set out fouls for physical contact.
The first public game was played on 11 March 1892 in Springfield, according to the same history. The sport spread quickly through YMCAs and American colleges. Women took it up almost at once: Senda Berenson adapted the game for women at Smith College shortly after its invention, and the first official women’s game between institutions was played 11 months after Naismith created it.
Professional play followed. The National Basketball League existed from 1898 to 1904, and teams such as the Original Celtics emerged in the early 20th century. The Basketball Association of America was formed in 1946 and merged with the National Basketball League in 1949, creating the National Basketball Association, according to the history.
The game also went international. FIBA, the international federation, was founded on 18 June 1932, and basketball became an Olympic sport at the Berlin Games in 1936, when the United States won the first tournament. Two rule changes shaped the modern game: the 24-second shot clock, introduced in 1954, and the three-point line, adopted in 1979-80, according to the history.
The distance from the first rules to the present is large. From December 1891 to June 2026 is 134 years and six months, a calculation by Delima News. The NBA’s own history, from the BAA in 1946, is 80 years.
The latest chapter was written in June 2026. The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 in the NBA Finals, which ran from 3 to 13 June, according to Wikipedia’s page on the series and the NBA. Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in Game 5 and was named Finals MVP, receiving the Bill Russell Trophy.
The title was the Knicks’ third in franchise history and their first in 53 years, according to the NBA’s report. That makes the previous title 1973, a figure that Delima News has calculated by subtracting 53 from 2026, and that the sources reviewed do not state directly.
The sources reviewed do not describe the equipment used in the first games, so it is not covered here. What the record does show is how little was needed to begin: a gym, a ball, a set of rules written down and students who wanted to play. It also shows how early women joined the game, since the first women’s game between institutions came within a year of its invention.
The sources reviewed do not give the number of players or the audience for the 2026 Finals, so those figures are not reported.
Image: The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts (file photo). Photo: Quintin Soloviev / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
