I believe the NBA switched to all man-made materials for their basketballs. I found their press release about it. It includes a photo, which does not look like this one. Maybe somebody can clear up the confusion.
hiccup
The National Basketball Association (NBA) allows only one official ball: The ball must be the official NBA game ball manufactured by Spalding. The ball is orange in color, 29.5 (749 mm) inches in circumference and weighs 22 ounces (624 g) (size 7). It must also be inflated to between 7.5 and 8.5 pounds per square inch. Starting in the 2006 season, the NBA switched to a new ball from Spalding that had a synthetic surface and a modified rib pattern (See section below). Until 2005 the ball had a leather surface. On December 11, 2006 the NBA decided to revert to the old leather ball due to numerous player complaints, lawsuits and injuries, mostly scratched hands, from the synthetic ball. Spalding has manufactured the official NBA game ball since 1983.
They trie man made material but quickly reverted to leather.
The NBA tried man-made materials several years ago. The players complained that the balls were too slippery. They changed back to pigskin balls in mid-season.