Abstract. Basketball is one of the most popular sports for college students in China; basketball lessons are also sought after among physical education courses. However, under the traditional teaching concept, basketball teaching focuses on the improvement of students' basketball skills, and fails to integrate leisure and entertainment elements. Thus, the teaching effect is not favorable. This paper first describes the foundation of combining leisure sports with basketball teaching, and then discusses the objectives, contents and methods of college basketball teaching reform from the perspective of leisure sports.