- published: 17 Jun 2015
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The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in the world. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada. It is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the national governing body for basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the 4 major North American professional sports leagues. NBA players are the world's best paid sportsmen, by average annual salary per player.
The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted the name National Basketball Association in 1949 after merging with the rival National Basketball League (NBL). The league's several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey.
Joshua ("Josh") Malik Childress (born June 20, 1983) is an American professional basketball player with the Phoenix Suns of the NBA. He previously played with the pro club Olympiacos Piraeus in the Greek A1 League and the Euroleague, as well as the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA.
Childress attended Mayfair High School in Lakewood, California. Besides playing basketball in high school and being named a McDonald's High School All-American, he also played volleyball during his senior year. He led his high school volleyball team, the Monsoons, to an undefeated record and he was voted to the All-League volleyball team.
Childress then played three seasons of college basketball with Stanford, where he was named an AP First Team All American, an All-American Consensus Second Team member, the Pac 10 Conference Player of the Year, and the Pac-10 Conference Tournament MVP as a junior in 2004. He then declared for the 2004 NBA Draft and was a first-round pick, number six overall, the highest a Stanford player has ever been drafted.