The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional “basketball league” from North America. A total of thirty teams are part of this league. There are twenty-nine teams from the United States and one team from Canada. NBA is regarded as one of the four “major professional sports” leagues of Canada and the U.S.A. The league began its journey from New York City on 6th June 1946 whose previous name was “Basketball Association of America” (BAA).
| Quick Info | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | National Basketball Association |
| Date Of Establishment | 6th June 1946 |
| Commissioner | Adam Silver |
| Number Of Team | 30 |
| Net Worth | USD $8.76 billion |
The name of the league changed into “National Basketball League” (NBL) on 3rd August 1949. Every team plays 82 matches in total between October and April. The playoff season takes place in June. All the players of the NBA receive good earnings as compared to the other basketball leagues in 2020. The league is also a member of “USA Basketball” (USAB). Even the “International Basketball Federation” (FIBA) even recognizes the “USAB.” FIBA is the “national governing body” of basketball in the U.S.A. NBA is also the “Third Wealthiest ” sports league in professional level after “NFL” and “MLB” in terms of revenue.
History, Career, Teams, Records, Games, Awards, and Titles
The “Basketball Association of America (BAA)” was formed on 6th June 1946. The owners of famous “Ice Hockey” arenas from Canada, Midwestern United States, and Northeastern had collaborated for the formation of the league. The first match under the brand of “NBA” was between “Toronto Huskies” and “New York Knickerbockers” at “Maple Leaf Gardens” on 1st November 1946 in Toronto, Canada. Ossie Schectman was one of the first players from the “Toronto Huskies” to score the first basket. BAA became the first major league to take place in the huge arenas in core urban areas.
There had also been attempts from the leagues like “NBL”, and the “American Basketball League” to organize league in larger arenas. But success didn’t come to these leagues for the events. The league had a lot of struggles in the beginning days. The league had to do tonnes of effort to create a professional platform for the new basketball players. The basketball team “Baltimore Bullets” won the BAA league in 1948. Another popular team “Minneapolis Alkers” won the BAA league in 1949.
Likewise, the NBL teams like “Tri-Cities”, “Syracuse”, “Anderson”, “Denver”, “Waterloo”, and “Sheboygan” joined the “BAA” on 3rd August 1949. This also increased the popularity of the league. Then, the name of the league changed into “National Basketball Association” in order to avoid any kinds of legal complications. The margining of the NBL teams was a part of an expansion for the league. The league underwent a number of increments and decrements in the number of franchises in several major and minor cities. The number of franchises decreased to eleven from seventeen in 1950. This number of franchises kept changing till 1953-54 season.
After the season, the number of the franchise reached number eight. “Philadelphia Warriors”, “Rochester Royals”, “Boston Celtics”, “Minneapolis Lakers”, “New York Knicks”, “Tri-Cities Blackhawks”, “Syracuse Nationals”, and “Fort Wayne Pistons” were the eight franchises in 1953-54 season. These franchises are still active in the present day. Also, the franchises started moving from the smaller to the larger cities.
Moreover, the teams like “T: FAhe Hawks” moved to St. Louis from Milwaukee in 1955 and Milwaukee from Tri-Cities in 1951. Another team “Rochester Royals” shifted to Cincinnati from Rochester in 1957. Similarly, the team “Pistons” moved from Fort Wayne to Detroit in 1957. Wataru Misaka became the first player to break the “NBA Color Barrier” in the 1947-48 season. He represented the “New York Knicks” in the season. Wataru was of “Japanese-American” ethnicity.
Then, Harold Hunter was the first “African-American” player to represent the “Wahington Capitols” in 1950. This opened the gates for other African-American Players” to become part of the game in the same year. Chuck Cooper joined the team “Boston Celtics”, Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton joined the “New York Knicks” and Earl Lloyd joined the “Washington Capitols.”
The team “Boston Celtics” won the eight seasons simultaneously from 1959 to 1966. This is still the longest championship streak in the history of the NBA. The league also started getting competition from the “American Basketball Association” (ABA) in 1967. David Stern became the commissioner of the NBA on 1st February 1984. Michael Jordan started representing the team “Chicago Bulls” in the 1984 season.
The league went for expansion to Canada in 1995. The teams like the “Toronto Raptors” and “Vancouver Grizzlies” joined the league during that expansion. The league decided to empower women in basketball. This decision started the “Women’s National Basketball Association” (WNBA) in 1966.
The third lockout of NBA occurred in 1998 to formulate a new “labor agreement” from 1st July 1988 till 20th January 1999. And all the teams played only 50 matches in the season. NBA even had to face damage to its image when “violence took place in between fans and players’ in November 2004. It was during the match between the team “Detroit Pistons” and the “Indiana Pacers.” NBA took strict action against this event. It suspended the players from 146 games. This resulted in a loss of $11 million in salaries of the players. Then, NBA worked more on tightening the security and limiting the sale of alcohol.
NBA started the “Drug Testing Program” in 1983. It also improved the test till 1999. All the players during the 1999-2000 season were tested randomly at the time of training camp. David Stern retired from the post of president after serving NBA for thirty years on 1st February 2014. Then, Adam Silver took the charge of the position.
The “COVID-19” pandemic resulted in the suspension of the “2019-20 season” indefinitely on 11th March 2020. The “Board of Governors” decided to resume the season with 22 teams format along with seeding of 8 games per team on June 4, 2020. All the matches took place in “Bubble” in “Walt Disney World” with all the precautions.
Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
NBA is active on social media platforms. It goes with the name of “NBA” on Instagram with 53.7M followers and “NBA” on Twitter with 32.2M followers. Its Facebook page “NBA” has 42 M followers. The official website of the league is www.nba.com. All these channels play an important role to provide all the updates of the league.
Net Worth
Although the exact figures of the net worth of the NBA are not clear, according to investopedia.com, the total evaluation of all the thirty teams was $8.76 billion in the 2018-2019 season. This hints that the brand must have a net worth of more than one billion.
