Basketball is actually the 3rd most popular sport worldwide based on “Number of fans” behind Soccer and Cricket. American Football is 9th just ahead of Baseball. Of course NFL is #1 in this country by a large margin.Might be an interesting discussion about why Baseball and football have dominated popularity over the last 100 years......while basketball and hockey which are are much more arbitrary in their enforcement of rules always plays second, third or fourth fiddle.
When you leave this country as a basketball player you are treated as royalty. This has gone on for decades overseas and in Canada.