GOLDEN STATEWARRIORS ADV"NBA" redirects here.
For other
uses, see NBA (disambiguation).
National Basketball Association
Current season, competition or edition:
2024 NBA Finals
Sport Basketball
Founded June 6, 1946; 78 years ago
(as BAA),
New York, New York, U.S.[1]
First season 1946–47
Commissioner Adam Silver
No. of teams 30
Countries United States (29 teams)
Canada (1 team)
Headquarters 645 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York, U.S.[2]
Most recent Denver Nuggets
champion(s) (1st title)
Most titles Boston Celtics
Los Angeles Lakers
(17 each)
• United States:
TV partner(s)
• ABC/ESPN
• TNT/Max
• NBA TV
• Canada:
• TSN/TSN2
• Sportsnet/Sportsnet One
• NBA TV Canada
• International:
• See list
Official website NBA.com
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional
basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States
and 1 in Canada). It is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United
States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in
the world.[3]
The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946, as the Basketball
Association of America (BAA).[1] It changed its name to the National Basketball
Association on August 3, 1949, after merging with the competing National
Basketball League (NBL).[4] In 1976, the NBA and the American Basketball
Association (ABA) merged, adding four franchises to the NBA. The NBA's regular
season runs from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. The league's
playoff tournament extends into June, culminating with the NBA
Finals championship series. As of 2020, NBA players are the world's best paid
athletes by average annual salary per player.[5][6][7]
The NBA is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB),[8] which is recognized by
the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) as the national governing body for
basketball in the United States. The league's several international as well as
individual team offices are directed out of its head offices in Midtown Manhattan,
while its NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located
in Secaucus, New Jersey. In North America, the NBA is the third wealthiest
professional sports league after the National Football League (NFL) and Major
League Baseball (MLB) by revenue, and among the top four in the world.[9]
The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers are tied for the most NBA
championships with 17 each. The reigning league champions are the Denver
Nuggets, who defeated the Miami Heat in the 2023 NBA Finals.
History
Creation and BAA–NBL merger (1946–1956)
Main article: Basketball Association of America
Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, site of the first ever
NBA game on November 1, 1946
The Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by owners of the
major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and
Canada. On November 1, 1946, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the Toronto
Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, in a game
the NBA now refers to as the first game played in NBA history.[10] The first basket
was made by Ossie Schectman of the Knickerbockers.
Although there had been earlier attempts at professional basketball leagues,
including the American Basketball League (ABL) and the NBL, the BAA was the
first league to attempt to play primarily in large arenas in major cities. During its
early years, the quality of play in the BAA was not significantly better than in
competing leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem
Globetrotters. For instance, the 1947 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the
BAA and won that league's 1948 title, and the 1948 NBL champion Minneapolis
Lakers won the 1949 BAA title. Prior to the 1948–49 season, however, NBL teams
from Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Rochester jumped to the BAA,
which established the BAA as the league of choice for collegians looking to turn
professional.[11]
At the urging of BAA co-founder Walter A. Brown, among other factors, on August
3, 1949, the remaining NBL teams (Syracuse, Anderson, Tri-Cities, Sheboygan,
Denver, and Waterloo) merged into the BAA. In deference to the merger and to
avoid possible legal complications, the league name was changed to the National
Basketball Association, even though the merged league retained the BAA's
governing body, including Maurice Podoloff as president.[11] To this day, the NBA
claims the BAA's history as its own. It now reckons the arrival of the NBL teams as
an expansion, not a merger, and does not recognize NBL records and statistics.[12]
The new league had seventeen franchises located in a mix of large and small
cities,[13] as well as large arenas and smaller gymnasiums and armories. In 1950,
the NBA consolidated to eleven franchises, a process that continued until 1954–55,
when the league reached its smallest size of eight franchises: the New York
Knicks, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia Warriors, Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester
Royals, Fort Wayne Pistons, Milwaukee Hawks, and Syracuse Nationals, all of
which remain in the league today, although the latter six all did eventually relocate.
The process of contraction saw the league's smaller-city franchises move to larger
cities. The Hawks had shifted from the Tri-Cities to Milwaukee in 1951, and later
shifted to St. Louis in 1955. In 1957, the Rochester Royals moved from Rochester,
New York, to Cincinnati and the Pistons moved from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to
Detroit.[14]
Japanese-American Wataru Misaka broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947–48
season when he played for the New York Knicks. He remained the only non-white
player in league history prior to the first African-American, Harold Hunter, signing
with the Washington Capitols in 1950.[15][16] Hunter was cut from the team during
training camp,[15][17] but several African-American players did play in the league later
that year, including Chuck Cooper with the Celtics, Nathaniel "Sweetwater"
Clifton with the Knicks, and Earl Lloyd with the Washington Capitols. During this
period, the Minneapolis Lakers won five NBA championships and established
themselves as the league's first dynasty;[18] their squad was led by center George
Mikan who was the NBA's first superstar.[19] To encourage shooting and discourage
stalling, the league introduced the 24-second shot clock in 1954.[20]
Celtics' dominance, league expansion and competition (1956–
1979)
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