History of NBA Basketball

Today's high-flying, slam-dunking, three-point-shooting NBA players are a far cry from the players that toiled in the early days of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A little more than 50 years after Dr. James Naismith invented the game in 1891 at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, what would become one of the major sports leagues in North America was born.

  1. What's in a Name?

    • The NBA began operating in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America. Eleven teams played in the inaugural season, including the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.

    First Game

    • Ironically, the first NBA game, on November 1, 1946, was staged outside the United States. New York traveled to Toronto to face the Huskies and became the first victor in the new league with a 68 to 66 triumph.

    Merger

    • Three years after its inception, the BAA merged with a Midwest-based professional league--the National Basketball League--to become the NBA. The merger expanded the league to 17 teams.

    Changing the Game

    • It was not uncommon for NBA games in the early 1950s to become dull, slow affairs, or riddled with an overabundance of fouls. To speed up the game, the NBA in 1954 adopted the 24-second clock, limiting each team's possession to 24 seconds.

    Outlasting the ABA

    • The American Basketball Association challenged NBA supremacy in the late 1960s and 1970s, signing big name players away from the older league. Eventually, the NBA and ABA merged, with four ABA franchises joining the NBA for the 1976-77 season.

    Growth and Popularity

    • Through expansion, the NBA has grown to 30 franchises, and with the coming of superstars such as Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan in the 1980s, the NBA has since been at the historical peak of its popularity.