"Basketball" was written and directed by producer Greg Daniels. Although he wrote the episode, Daniels was not originally scheduled to direct "Basketball." Rainn Wilson remarked that he really pushed for Daniels to direct the episode. John Krasinski applauded Daniels for being the first writer to "take [the characters out of the office." Daniels later said that his favorite shot from the episode was when Michael takes Ryan on a tour of the warehouse because "you got to see the whole basketball [set." The editors' cut for the episode was 40 minutes long. During the commentary for the episode, Steve Carell argued that the American version of "The Office" was more difficult to shoot because the British version was 29 minutes long, whereas the American version could only be 22 minutes.