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History of the National Basketball Association

The Basketball Association of America (BAA) started the first basketball season in 1946. In 1949, the BAA agreed to merge with the National Basketball League to become the National Basketball Association (NBA). At the start, there were seventeen franchises in the nation. However, in 1950 the franchises were consolidated to eleven. In 1950, the NBA became integrated, accepting 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 at its smallest in 1954 when it had only eight franchises, all eight of which remain today. These are the Knickerbockers, Celtics, Warriors, Lakers, Royals/Kings, Pistons, Hawks and Nationals/76ers. 1954 also saw the introduction of the 24-second shot clock to increase the tension 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 attempt to tie up the best cities. The following year the Division Semifinals was changed to a best-of-seven playoff. Two additional teams were added each in 1975 and 1977. In 1976, the NBA reached a settlement with the ABA, which added four ABA franchises to the NBA, raising the total to 22.

The current sixteen-team tournament was not started until 1984. The First round was then changed to a best-of-five playoff, to accommodate the new teams. It wasn’t until 2003 that first round became the best of seven we have today. During the last 2004 to 2005 season, the NBA underwent additional changes. There are now thirty NBA franchises and the division structure has been realigned. There are now three divisions with five teams each.

Women’s Basketball History

The Women’s National Basketball Association, created in 1996, is the first women’s league to be fully endorsed by the NBA, their male counterpart. The first season began in June of 1997, following a much-celebrated gold medal win at the 1996 Summer Olympics for the USA Women’s Basketball team. The league is divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences, much like the NBA, and the playoffs result in the Finals between the advancing team from each conference.

The WNBA plays during the summer, between NBA seasons, using many of the same venues as their counterpart NBA teams. The regular season consists of 34 games, and during the middle of July, this play comes to a halt for the WNBA All-Star game, with the star players from the Eastern Conference facing off against the stars of the Western Conference. The fans get to vote throughout the season as to who they wish to see in this game.

The playoffs consist of series featuring the top four teams from each conference, with the first round between the first and second round being best of three series, and the finals being the best of five. Typically, the team with the best record will play the team with the fourth-best record, and the second and third best teams play each other in the first round. The winner of each series then play each other the second round (the conference finals), and the victor advances to the league championship finals.

The WNBA started its first season with only eight teams (1997). By the 2000 season, that number had doubled. Two teams were added in 1998, again in 1999, and four more joined the ranks in 2000. At the time, the league was collectively owned by the NBA. Upon finishing the 2002 season, the NBA sold the individual franchises of the WNBA to either their NBA counterparts hailing from the same city or to a third party owner. This caused two teams to relocated, and the Cleveland Rockers folded at the end of the 2003 season.

This was only the beginning of the troubles for the WNBA. The players threatened to go on strike in 2002 if they could not work out a new deal with the league, and this postponed the start of the 2003 season. Then, in October of 2004, Val Ackerman, the first president of the WNBA, announced her plan to resign. She was replaced in February of the following year by Donna Orender, the Senior Vice President of the PGA Tour who had once played in the former Women’s Basketball League.

The first expansion team in years was awarded in February of 2005 to Chicago, taking the name the Chicago Sky. During the off season that same year, there were several changes to the governing rules of the WNBA to make it more similar to the NBA.