The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is set up to honor players, coaches, referees, and other game contributors who are considered all time greats or have shown exceptional skill. Some teams, including the Harlem Globetrotters, New York Renaissance, and Buffalo Germans have also been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The mission of the establishment is to serve as the library of basketball history.

Established in 1959, fundraising took place so that the actual building could be constructed. This building was open to the public in 1968 at Springfield College in Massachusetts. An off-campus Hall was opened in downtown Springfield later in 1985, on the east bank of the Connecticut River. The Hall of Fame continued to promote and preserve the sport of basketball and the achievements of its participants from its new location, and thousands of people made the pilgrimage to the Hall each year.

On September 28th of 2002, a third home for the Basketball Hall of Fame was founded, this time in an enormous 80,000 square foot building created especially as a shrine to honor the greatest, most famous individuals related to the sport. Examples of Hall of Famers of the present and future: Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal, Larry Bird just to name a few iconic figures for basketball.