Discover 101 reasons why the NBA isn’t just one of the most popular sports leagues in the world.

Around 800 million people follow hundreds of games played every year by teams in the NBA, making it the fourth most popular sporting competition in the world. It’s a truly global league, with legions of fans in Brazil, China, Spain, Australia and South Africa. It’s not hard to see what attracts them to the sport. For decades, the NBA has enthralled American sports fans. Bill Russell and other early superstars sealed the NBA’s place as a national institution. Icons like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan wrote their names in the record books, and modern-day all-stars like LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo have propelled the NBA into an international phenomenon. Now, the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers are among the most watched sports teams in the world, and the NBA leads the way in uniting a country that’s fragmented on so many other levels.