Fun Basketball Facts For Kids

♦ The first basketball was brown instead of orange.♦There were two different professional basketball associations in 1949. The NBA (National Basketball Association) and the BAA (Basketball Association of America) they joined together to be come the NBA.

♦ The court was about half the size as it is now in the first game back in 1892.

♦ The average salary of a cheerleader is $56,000.

♦This is a tragic fact, but true. Pete (Pistol Pete) Maravich was 26 in 1974 when he said this in an interview. “I don’t want to play 10 year sin the NBA and die of a heart attack at 40.” He ended up playing for 10 years and died of a heart attack at age 40.

♦ Kareem Abdul Jabar played for 20 seasons in the NBA. He is the all time leading scorer with a total of 38,387 points. He is now a basketball historian and a cultural ambassador for the USA.

♦ Kareem only made one 3 pointer in his entire NBA career.

♦ Air Jordan shoes were banned in the NBA. Michael Jordan continued to wear them. Nike told him that they would pay any fine he received.

♦ Tim Duncan was a very talented swimmer and was training to go to the 1992 Olympics. Hurrican Hugo destroyed the pool that he was training in. He is terrified of sharks so he would not train in the ocean. He turned to basketball and the rest is history.

♦ Tim Duncan made a promise to his dying mother, that he would graduate college. Tim stayed in school all 4  years and fulfilled his promise even though he could have entered the NBA sooner and made serious amounts of money.

♦ 60% of NBA players are financially broke within 5 years of their retirement.

♦ If you are 7 feet or taller you have a 17% chance of playing in the NBA.

♦ The creator of the game NBA Jam hated the Chicago Bulls so much that he put a created coding within the game that made them miss last second shots.

♦ In 1965 Wilt Chamberlain was the first player to his 6 digits for his contract. His rival, Bill Russell, caught wind of this and demanded $100,001 contract. His salary was raised immediately.

♦ Kobe Bryant was only 17 when he entered the NBA. He was so young that his parents had to co-sign his contract.

♦ Muggsy Bogues was the shortest player to ever play in the NBA at 5 foot 3 inches. He was drafted number 12 by the Washington Bullets. He was a great defender and passer but only averaged over 10 points a game a couple times in his 12 year career.

♦ In 1987-88 Muggsy Bogues and Manute Bol were on the same team. It was a combo of the tallest player with the smallest player.

♦ Manute Bol was the only NBA player to kill a lion with a spear and trade cows for his wife.

♦ In 1999 Ron Artest was a rookie for the Chicago Bulls. He applied at circuit city part time just so he could get the employee discount.

♦ Shaquille O’ Nean challenged Hakeem Olajuwon to a game of one on one after losing to his team in the NBA finals in 1995.

♦ The guy featured in the NBA logo is Laker great Jerry West.

♦ The most points scored in their first 3 games is held by Jeremy Lin. He scored 89 points and that’s the most since the NBA and ABA merged in 1976.

♦ Among all sports, only American football causes more injuries than basketball.

♦ The Boston Celtics have more NBA championships than any other team with 17 total.

♦ On a regulation sized basketball hoop the rim is exactly 10 feet from the ground.

♦ The backboard measures 6 feet and the little white box on the backboard is 18 inches wide and 2 feet high.

♦ The Chicago Bulls have only won 6 NBA championships, but once they have got they they have never lost.

♦ Michael Jordan retired in 1999 and returned again in 2001. He holds the record for the most points during the playoffs with 5,987.

♦ In 1936 during the Berlin Germany Olympics basketball became an official sport of the Olympics.

♦ The official basketball hall of fame is named after James Naismith and resides in his hometown where he invented basketball at Springfield, Massachusetts.

Here is an awesome inspiring NBA basketball video modeled after the 2013-2014 NBA season. If this doesn’t get your fired up, I don’t know what will!

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