Who Is The Nba?
The National Basketball Association is the preeminent men’s professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier men’s professional basketball league in the world.
What is the NBA?
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the world’s top men’s professional basketball league. It is widely considered to be the premier men’s professional basketball league in the world. 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 basketball in the United States. NBA players are the world’s best paid athletes by average annual salary per player.
The History of the NBA
The National Basketball Association, or NBA, is the world’s premier professional basketball league. Comprising 30 teams located in the United States and Canada, the NBA is an athlete-centric league that boasts some of the biggest names in sports.
Founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America, the NBA began with just 11 teams. The league quickly grew in popularity, and by 1949, it had merged with the rival National Basketball League to form the NBA. The early years of the NBA were marked by extreme parity, with no team winning more than 60 percent of their games. This changed in 1950 when a dominant Minneapolis Lakers squad won 65 percent of their games en route to their first NBA title.
Led by superstar center George Mikan, the Lakers would go on to win five championships in six years. This period of dominance was followed by a period of parity in which no team was able to win more than 60 percent of their games for nearly a decade. This parity was eventually broken by a Boston Celtics team that featured future Hall of Famers Bill Russell and Bob Cousy. The Celtics would go on to win an unprecedented eight straight championships from 1959 to 1966.
After the Celtics’ dynasty came to an end, the NBA once again became a league defined by parity. In 1967, the league expanded from 9 to 14 teams with the addition of the Seattle SuperSonics, Milwaukee Bucks, and San Diego Rockets (now the Houston Rockets). This expansion marked a turning point in NBA history, as it ushered in an era of increased competition and greater player mobility. From 1967 to 1984, no team won more than 60 percent of their games for 17 straight seasons. This period also saw a number of great players join the league, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird.
The increased competition led to greater player mobility and higher salaries as teams looked to build contenders through free agency and trades. In 1984, legendary center Moses Malone became one of the first players to sign a contract worth more than $1 million per year when he joined the Philadelphia 76ers. This set off a chain reaction that saw salaries rapidly increase throughout the league. By 1997, salaries had reached an all-time high with Michael Jordan becoming the first player to sign a contract worth $30 million per year.
The 1990s were dominated by two men: Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal. Jordan led his Chicago Bulls to six championships while O’Neal won four titles with three different teams (the Lakers, Miami Heat, and Cleveland Cavaliers). After Jordan retired for a second time in 1998-99 season (he would come back again in 2001), Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan emerged as new leaders for their respective teams; Bryant with Los Angeles Lakers and Duncan for San Antonio Spurs). Duncan would go on win five championships while playing his entire career with Spurs while Bryant won five titles with Lakers (and two without Shaq).
The NBA Today
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the top professional basketball league in the United States and Canada. The NBA is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) as the national governing body for basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, and it is widely considered to be the premier men’s professional basketball league in the world.
The NBA was founded on June 6, 1946, as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted its current name at the start of the 1949-50 season when it merged with the National Basketball League (NBL). The league currently consists of 30 teams: 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada.
The NBA operates on a salary cap system. A salary cap is a system whereby a limit is placed on the amount of money that teams can spend on player salaries. The salary cap for each team for the 2019-20 season is $109 million. The NBA also has a luxury tax system in place, which is a threshold over which teams have to pay an additional tax on their payroll. For 2019-20, this threshold has been set at $132 million.
The Future of the NBA
Over the last few years, the NBA has been facing many issues. One of them being the falling viewership ratings, which some attribute to the lack of parity in the league. Another big issue is the increase in player injuries, which has led to a lot of players missing significant time. And finally, there is a growing concern over the length of the regular season and how it is adversely affecting player health and performance.
