Basketball in Canada Basketball in Canada Basketball in Canada dates back to the 20th century. The sport is played year-round by men and women and various levels of competition. Several professional basketball leagues have teams based in Canada. James Naismith, a Canadian who moved to the United States, invented basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts in the 1890s. This new sport soon became popular as an indoor sport that needed a minimal equipment, gaining popularity at high schools and colleges in Canada. In Canada, the sport has long lived in the shadow of ice hockey, but in the early 21st Century the sport saw a
Steven Naismith by McCann. Naismith scored Rangers first goal against Hearts in October 2011, and Rangers went on to win the game 2–0. During the 2011–12 season, Naismith began a goalscoring celebration where he crosses his arms in front of his body. This was later revealed by a family friend to mean that he is sending a kiss to his girlfriend when doing so. On 29 October, Naismith injured himself after attempting to tackle Aberdeen's Rob Milsom. A scan later confirmed that he had damaged his cruciate ligament and would be out of action for around nine months, ending his season. In