Basically, the NBA is the premier men\u2019s basketball league in the United States in the
professional level, particularly in North America. It is also the top league when it comes
to salaries, game popularity, level f competition and talent. At present, there are thirty
teams in the NBA coming from both the United States and Canada.

The NBA started out as the Basketball Association of America or the BAA in 1946. Its
aim was to organize the top teams in the professional category as well as to make them
more popular. The first game of the league was played between the Toronto Huskies and
the New York Knickerbockers in Toronto, Canada. In 1949, the name National
Basketball Association was adopted.

From this year hereon, NBA continued to evolve along with the addition of more teams.
Notable players also started to emerge. It featured famous players like George Mikan
who is known in the NBA as the first \u201cbig man;\u201d Bob Cousy, the most celebrated point
guard; Bill Russell, considered as the genius in defense. Other notable players include;

\u2022 Wilt Chamberlain
\u2022 Oscar Robertson
\u2022 Jerry West
\u2022 Karl Malone
\u2022 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
\u2022 Julius Erving
\u2022 Larry Bird
\u2022 Magic Johnson
\u2022 Michael Jordan

There are lots of notable NBA players fro the United States. However, not all of the
players considered to be among the greatest are from the USA. International players have
also made their own marks in the history ofNBA. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is among them.
Others include;

2007.
\u2022 Peja Stojakovic \u2013 this Serbian won the Eurobasket 2001 MVP award.
\u2022 Andrei Kirilenko \u2013 this Russian is also known as the AK-47 in NBA; he won the

Aside from the list above, many international players have been doing great jobs in NBA.
Yao Ming and Andrea Bargnani were both first picked in 2002 NBA Draft by Houston
Rockets and 2006 NBA Draft by Toronto Raptors respectively.

these themes were divided into two conferences with three divisions each.
Eastern Conference
\u2022 Atlantic Division \u2013 includes teams such as the Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets, New

\u2022 Northwest Division \u2013 teams included are Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves,
NBA Oklahoma City which is set to replace the now defunct Seattle SuperSonics,
Portland Trailblazers, and Utah Jazz.