the most famous professional league in the united states was created in 1946 and was called the basketball association of america - in 1949 the name was changed to the national basketball association, and the modern nba was born.
in 1894, an american graduate from yale university, augusto shaw, was invited to teach at a university in săo paulo - in his bag was a basketball and he was the first individual to introduce the activity to brasil.
the sport initially became identified as female orientated because females were more intrigued to play than men - the concept of basketball being for woman, along with the popularity of football, hindered the growth of basketball till years later in brasil. eventually reputations wore off and in rio de janeiro, 1912, the first basketball tournament was hosted.
