TL;DR: Basketball is 135 years old as of 2026 - it was invented in December 1891 by Canadian physical-education instructor Dr. James Naismith at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. The first game used a soccer ball and two peach baskets nailed to a balcony railing.
The exact birth date of basketball
The first game of basketball was played on December 21, 1891. Naismith had been asked by his department head to invent an indoor winter sport that could be played in the YMCA gymnasium. His brief: something rougher than calisthenics, less injury-prone than American football.
Naismith nailed two half-bushel peach baskets to the balcony rails at opposite ends of the gym (10 feet high - the same height we use today), wrote 13 rules on a piece of paper, and let his class try it. The first game was 9-on-9 and ended 1-0; William R. Chase scored the only field goal from about 25 feet out.
The original 13 rules
Naismith's original rules are short and many remain recognizable today:
- The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.
- The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands, but never with the fist.
- A player cannot run with the ball.
- The ball must be held in or between the hands.
- No shouldering, holding, pushing, tripping, or striking opponents.
Naismith's original paper was auctioned by his grandson in 2010 for over $4 million.
From peach baskets to the modern game
Major milestones in 135 years:
- 1892: The first women's game played at Smith College
- 1894: First official basketball manufactured by A.G. Spalding
- 1906: The bottoms of peach baskets were finally cut out so balls didn't have to be retrieved
- 1936: Basketball became an Olympic sport (Berlin Games)
- 1946: The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was founded - later merged into the NBA
- 1976: The ABA-NBA merger brought the 3-point line into the pro game
- 2021: Wilson replaced Spalding as the NBA's official ball manufacturer
Basketball today: a global sport
From Naismith's 18-player gym game, basketball now reaches an estimated 450 million participants worldwide. The NBA Finals draws ~20 million U.S. viewers per game; the FIBA Basketball World Cup reaches 3.1 billion across all platforms. FIBA's 3x3 variant has become an Olympic sport in its own right (since the 2020 Tokyo Games).
For coaches teaching the sport's evolution, our custom basketball coaching boards collection includes NBA, NCAA, FIBA, and 3x3 layouts.
Bring 135 years of basketball history to your court
The sport's core hasn't changed: a ball, a hoop, two teams. Ours is the same. Outfit your team in custom basketball uniforms that honor any era, drill shooting form with the same equipment pros use via our basketball training equipment, or grab a stack of custom basketballs printed with your team logo.
Related reading
Images: Pixabay. Used under the Pixabay Content License.
