How the NBA Started

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Like all other sports events, the National Basketball Association was born out of a group of people's passion for basketball. In 1946, a group of sports arena owners founded the Basketball Association of America. It became the first basketball league, which has games in huge arenas found in large cities.

It was in August of 1949 that the BAA merged with the National Basketball League and was later called as the NBA. The league had seventeen franchises that were found in cities and in various sports venues all over the country. In 1950, the NBA's number of franchises went down to 11 and it continued to go down to as low as eight by 1954. These are the Celtics, Knicks, Lakers, Warriors, Kings, 76ers, Hawks, and Pistons. But while contracting during the 1960s, the NBA's small franchises shifted to big ones found in large cities. Some of these shifters were Minneapolis Lakers who moved to Los Angeles Lakers, Syracuse Nationals to Philadelphia, and Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco.

The NBA will also be remembered for the introduction of the 24-second shot clock. In 1954, the league came up with this rule to encourage their players to shoot and avoid stalling. It also showed diversity among its teams when players like Wataru Misaka, Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd, and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton joined the league. Now, African-Americans comprise 80 percent of players.

In 1967, the NBA encountered a competitor in bidding for the best players. The American Basketball Association managed to snag Rick Barry, who is among the NBA's highest scorers, and some veteran referees like Norm Drucker, John Vanak, Joe Gushue, and Earl Strom. The NBA somehow got even when college football star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar joined the league.

Today's NBA

There are now 30 franchises in NBA and the league continues to grow as it introduces more basketball legends from all over the world. The likes of Yao Ming, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili have already shown their winning plays from the playoffs to the NBA Finals. Now, watching NBA games has become more exciting with American players playing against international players and more expensive with ticket prices going up.

An NBA ticket for a first row seat is no longer worth $14, so most NBA fans are now practical about buying tickets for live games. They're now forced to spend their money only on games where premier teams like the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, and Los Angeles Lakers play because they think these games with premier teams are definitely worth their money.

These NBA teams have already established their own celebrity status because of their legendary players. Some of them are Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, Miami Heat's Dwayne Wade, Chicago Bulls' Luol Deng, Boston Celtics' Paul Pierce, and San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan. These elite teams have already won several NBA titles and their games are still the most frequently watched in any season. The number of popular players and famous teams in the bloc only proves that NBA stays as the most sought-after game in the country.

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