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National Basketball Association(NBA) : Merger and History

NBA (National Basketball Association) Merger and History

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America.

It is regarded as the best professional basketball league in the world and is one of the biggest professional sports leagues in both the US and Canada. June 6, 1946 saw the founding of the league as the Basketball Association of America in New York City.

Basketball Association merger with NBL to become NBA

On August 3, 1949, it merged with the rival National Basketball League (NBL) to become the National Basketball Association(NBA). Four new franchises were added to the NBA as a result of the 1976 merger of the NBA and the American Basketball Association (ABA). 

Every team played 82 games during the regular season, which runs from October to April. The NBA Finals championship series is the culmination of the league’s playoff tournament, which runs through June. 

Based on their average yearly wage, NBA players are the highest paid athletes in the world as of 2020. As the official regulatory body for basketball in the United States, USA Basketball (USAB) is acknowledged by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the NBA is an active member of USAB. 

After a series of franchise additions, subtractions, and relocations, the NBA now has 30 teams—29 in the US and 1 in Canada—after starting with 11 clubs in 1946.

Thirty clubs are split across two conferences of three divisions, each with five teams, under the current league structure. The 2004–05 season saw the introduction of the current divisional layout. 

With one club in Canada and 29 in the United States, the majority of teams are located in the eastern half of the nation, which corresponds to the population distribution of both the US and Canada: 13 teams are located in the Eastern Time Zone, 9 in the Central, 3 in the Mountain, and 5 in the Pacific.

History of NBA

The Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by owners of the major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Canada.

On November 1, 1946, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, in a game the NBA now refers to as the first game played in NBA history. 

The first basket was made by Ossie Schectman of the Knickerbockers. The American Basketball League (ABL) and the National Basketball Association (NBL) were two previous attempts at professional basketball leagues; however, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) was the first to try playing mostly in huge arenas in important cities. 

When the BAA first started out, the level of play was no more superior than in other leagues or among elite independent teams like the Harlem Globetrotters.In the BAA, for example, the 1948 ABL finalists Baltimore Bullets won the 1948 league championship; in the BAA, the 1948 NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers won the 1949 championship. 

But NBL teams from Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Rochester joined the BAA before the 1948–1949 season, making the BAA the league of choice for college athletes hoping to pursue careers in sports.

Conclusion

National Basketball Association is considered as a great festival in North America and Canada. US people watch it and consider the team player as their own.

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