The game of basketball as we know it today was created by Dr. James Naismith in December 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts. It consisted of peach baskets and a soccer style ball. He published 13 rules for the new game. He divided his class of 18 into two teams of nine players each and set about to teach them the basics of his new game. The objective of the game was to throw the basketball into the fruit baskets nailed to the lower railing of the gym balcony. Every time a point was scored, the game was halted so the janitor could bring out a ladder and retrieve the ball. After a while, the bottoms of the fruit baskets were removed. The first public basketball game was played in Springfield, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1892. The greatest level of basketball was seen in college and the first game played was in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 7, 1893. The first professional league was founded in 1898. Six teams took part in the National Basketball League. The American National Basketball Association (NBA), established in 1949.

The info above is just the main history information and you can find more online at this Wikipedia site.

The list below and left is a list of the top 10 basketball players that ever played or still playing and the table below and right is of the last 10 championships and which team won them.