Ranked just behind football as the world's most global sport, basketball is watched on TV in 212 countries.
America has dominated the event at the Olympic Games since professional players were allowed to compete.
However, in the 2004 Athens Games, their men's team suffered a shock defeat in the semi-finals to Argentina, who went on to clinch the gold medal.
Wheelchair basketball
First played in 1946, wheelchair basketball was invented to help rehabilitate ex-servicemen with spinal cord injuries after World War II.
It is now one of the most popular sports at the Paralympic Games.
Where?
Basketball and wheelchair basketball teams compete in The O2 in Greenwich Peninsula for the basketball finals of the 2012 Games.
Interested in basketball?