The History of the National Basketball Association

The Basketball Association of America (BAA) began its first basketball season in 1946. In 1949, the BAA agreed to merge with the National Basketball League to become the National Basketball Association (NBA). First, there were seventeen franchises in the nation. However, in 1950 franchises were consolidated into eleven. In 1950, the NBA forum became integrated and accepted the first African American players. Chuck Cooper joined the Boston Celtics, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton joined the New York Knicks and Earl Lloyd joined the Washington Capitols. The Minneapolis Lakers won the first NBA championship in 1950.

The NBA was the smallest in 1954, when it had only eight franchises, the eight that remain today. These are Knickerbockers, Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, Royals / Kings, Pistons, Hawks and Nationals / 76ers. In 1954, the 24-second clock was also introduced to increase the excitement of the game.

The NBA played with the six-team format until 1967, when it expanded by adding two teams. This expansion was in response to the founding of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in an effort to connect the top cities. The following year, the Division Semifinals turned into an end game for the best of seven. Two additional teams were each added in 1975 and 1977. In 1976, the NBA reached an agreement with ABA, which added four ABA franchises to the NBA, bringing the total to 22.

The current sixteen team tournament first started in 1984. The first round was changed to a draw for the best of five to accommodate the new teams. Only in 2003 did the first round become the best of the seven we have today. During the last season from 2004 to 2005, the NBA underwent further changes. There are now thirty NBA franchises and the divisional structure has been realigned. Now there are three departments with five teams each.