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The National Basketball Association (NBA) is North America's professional men's basketball league, including 30 teams from around America.. The NBA is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues, which also includes the National Hockey League (NHL), the National football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB.)
The league was founded in 1946, New York  as the Basketball Association of America (BAA) but  adopted the name National Basketball Association in 1949 after merging with a rival league  the “National Basketball League”. Originated  with only 11 teams, through a sequence of team expansions, the league currently consists of 30 teams. The United States is home to 29 teams and one is located in Canada. The Boston Celtics have won the most championships, with 16 NBA Finals wins. The next most successful franchise is the Los Angeles Lakers, with  14 overall championships followed by the Chicago Bulls with 6 championships.
Major league sports is one of the foremost platforms where Americans of ethnicity battled for freedom from racial prejudice. 1950 is recognized as the year the NBA integrated with the addition of African American players such as Chuck Cooper with the Boston Celtics, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton with the New York Knicks, and Earl Lloyd with the Washington Capitols. Today, more than fifty years later, the NBA is made up of players of many different races, with diverse backgrounds and cultures. Over 80% of NBA players today are African American.
International interest of the NBA began in the early 1980’s when allstars rookies like Larry Bird (Boston Celtics) and Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Lakers) joined the league. Bird went on to lead the Celtics to three titles, and Johnson went on to lead the Lakers to five.   
The Jordan Era marked the globalization of basketball. Michael Jordan entered the league in 1984 with the Chicago Bulls, as a superstar. This lead to more cities wanting teams of their own. So four new NBA teams were formed;  Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, and Minnesota Timberwolves made their NBA debuts.
The 1992 American Olympic basketball team; the Dream Team, was the first to use current NBA stars, such as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson to represent their country.

UPDATED:19/03/08