"Although testing performed by Spalding and the NBA demonstrated that the new composite basketball was more consistent than leather, and statistically there has been an improvement in shooting ...

NBA players rejected the ... hoopster can do the same thing. Spalding, the maker of the new ball, has announced that the league's switch back to leather prompted the company to let fans get ...

it will still use a Spalding ball, albeit the leather model favoured by the players. basketball had been in development for eight years, and was first introduced in 2005 at NBA prospect camps.