Of course last week was a joke, if you didn’t catch it. Basketball in the United States indeed has a rich history and an enormous talent pool. To make up for my mockery of it, let’s stay home today.
Let's give the Americans a little bit more credit and some respect for their basketball excellence.
The NBA, which is the most popular and arguably the best basketball league in the world, has resided in the United States since 1946. It has fielded some of the best players ever, from the Boston Celtics’ perennial championship-snatcher Bill Russell and the Lakers’ stat-stuffer Wilt Chamberlain, to the Lakers’ dazzling entertainer Magic Johnson and the Celtics’ "Hick from French Lick," Larry Bird. The modern era has seen ultra-marketable stars that combine charisma and basketball dominance such as the Bulls’ Michael Jordan, the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and the multiteam legend LeBron James. What do all of these players have in common?
They not only all played in an American league, but they all are American themselves. However, it took until 1992 for the American national basketball team to realize what it actually had.
Before 1992, the Olympics only allowed amateur or college players to compete in the basketball event. However, despite America being one of the dissenters, in 1989 the International Basketball Federation voted overwhelmingly to allow professional basketball players into the Olympics.
Thus, the American Dream Team in the 1992 Olympics was born. Led by Jordan and Johnson, the team included multiple future hall of famers and ripped through its competition. On its way to a gold medal, it beat teams by an absurd average of 43.8 points per game. No other country had a chance when America fielded its best players.
Since the rule change, America has won the gold medal at every Olympics, along with three World Cups. The dominance of the United States on the world stage has not only improved the marketability of U.S. basketball, but also the NBA. The U.S. teams allow the world to see the best of the NBA, giving an increasing number of international prospects a reason to come to the United States and either go to college or play in the NBA. In 2020, the league featured 108 international players from 42 countries — the highest number the NBA has ever seen and a number that keeps growing.
How did America achieve such a great monopoly on the sport of basketball?
Well, it helps that the sport was invented by an American man, James Naismith. The game is also well suited for small spaces in urban cities, which are plentiful in America. More than all of that, America shifted basketball from being just a game to being a culture. When African Americans were allowed to play in the NBA in 1950, the game became more diverse, allowing the NBA to have the influence and universal love that it has around the world today.
