What Year Did the NBA Start?
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The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the world’s premier professional basketball league. It was founded in 1946 with just eleven teams. Today, the NBA is composed of 30 teams and is watched by millions of fans around the globe.
The Early Years
The first professional basketball league
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a men’s professional basketball league in North America, composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). It is one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, and is widely considered to be the premier men’s professional basketball league in the world.
The NBA was established in 1946 with 11 teams, and through a sequence of team expansions, mergers, relocations, and folded teams, has grown to its current 30-team membership. The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946, as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The BAA took its name from the original organization of 13 teams that competed in that winter’s inaugural season of 1936–37. After stopping operations for most of the World War II period, the league resumed play in 1947–48. On August 3, 1949, a merger between the BAA and the National Basketball League (NBL) resulted in renaming the league as the National Basketball Association. The new league began competition with 17 teams during the 1949–50 season.
The birth of the NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) was founded on June 6, 1946, in New York City. The original teams were the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia Warriors, Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals, and the Fort Wayne Pistons. Of these original teams only the Knicks and Celtics remain in the NBA today.
The Modern Era
The ABA-NBA merger
In the summer of 1976, the NBA and ABA concluded a merger agreement that would take effect with the 1976-77 season. That year, four ABA teams — the New York Nets, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets — joined the NBA, boosting the number of franchises to 22. As part of the deal, each ABA team paid a $3.2 million entrance fee to join the NBA.
The NBA today
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the premier professional men’s basketball league in North America. It is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada), and is one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The NBA is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by FIBA (also known as the International Basketball Federation) as the national governing body for men’s professional basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the founding members of FIBA, and was one of the original eleven basketball nations to form a governing body that now includes 9 other nationalities: Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Puerto Rico, Senegal, and Turkey.
The league was founded in New York City on June 6th, 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3rd, 1949 after merging with the rival National Basketball League (NBL). The NBA’s regular season runs from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. Its playoffs extend into June.
The NBA today consists of 30 teams: 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. These teams are divided into two conferences: Eastern and Western. Each conference features three five-team divisions.
