Basketball is almost unique in an important way among the big four sports in the US calendar. The proximity of players to fans makes for a real feeling of being part of the game in a way that football just cannot – sitting above the sidelines means that you are separated from the players by some distance. In baseball you are sat at the top of a high wall and in hockey you are, for your own good, separated from the action by a wall of reinforced plastic (so that no flying frozen rubber puck can hit you in the face).

In basketball, though, a courtside seat really is a courtside seat. If a pass is slightly overthrown there is a good chance that it will land in your lap. You can’t keep it, but you will get to see yourself on the Jumbotron. But quite apart from your proximity to the ball, there is your proximity to the players. You can hear them calling for passes, you can hear their sneakers squeaking on the floor, and you can see the sweat beading on their foreheads. It really is disturbingly close to being in the game.

In one game in 2004 between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons, a scuffle broke out on court between the Pistons’ Ben Wallace and the Pacers’ Ron Artest. A plastic cup was thrown at Artest, who entered the stands along with some team mates and sparking a player-fan brawl that ended in five players being charged with assault. Air Jordan: The Legacy Of The Great Players

Basketball is like any other sport in that it creates heroes for the viewing public. If you are a player with a great list of achievements you can expect to go down in club and civic history, and you can also expect to do very well financially from the deal. You may even leave a more lasting legacy. A legacy like that of Michael Jordan is one that the best players hope to emulate. During the 90s, Jordan was one of sport’s most bankable names, allowing him to make millions of dollars in endorsements, something which opened the way for the likes of Tiger Woods and David Beckham to do the same.

Alternatively, you might create a legacy of friendly rivalry between clubs. Although they competed three times for the NBA championship in the 1980s, there is no real enmity between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. What there is could be better described as a shared history – best exemplified by the continued friendship between the figureheads of each team, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. It is hard for the fans of each team to hate their rival when the players clearly do not.

Then there are other names which, no matter what the player may achieve in the course of his career, will always be linked with something stupid they did. Latrell Sprewell, a hugely gifted player with a reputation for giving a hundred per cent on court, took exception to his coach P.J Carlesimo asking him to put a bit more into his passes. Unwilling to take criticism, Sprewell wrestled his coach to the ground and strangled him for 15 seconds. He may be a 4-time NBA All-Star, but he’s a 4-time NBA All-Star who assaulted his coach.