National Basketball

Association

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the pre-eminent men's

professional basketball league in North America, and is widely
considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league
in the world. It has thirty franchised member clubs (29 in the United
States and 1 in Canada), and is an active member of USA Basketball
(USAB), which is recognized by FIBA (also known as the International
Basketball Federation) as the national governing body for basketball
in the United States. The NBA is one of the four major North
American professional sports leagues. NBA players are the world's
best paid sportsmen, by average annual salary per player.

The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946, as the
Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted the
name National Basketball Association on August 3, 1949, after
absorbing the rival National Basketball League (NBL). The league's
several international as well as individual team offices are directed
out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth
Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios
are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

History

In 1957, rookie center Bill Russell joined the Boston Celtics,

who already featured guard Bob Cousy and coach Red
Auerbach, and went on to lead the club to eleven NBA titles
in thirteen seasons. Center Wilt Chamberlain entered the
league with the Warriors in 1959 and became a dominant
individual star of the 1960s, setting new single game records
in scoring (100) and rebounding (55). Russell's rivalry with
Chamberlain became one of the greatest rivalries in the
history of American team sports.

The 1960s were dominated by the Celtics. Led by Russell, Bob

Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, Boston won eight straight
championships in the NBA from the 195966. This
championship streak is the longest in NBA history. They did
not win the title in 1966-67, but regained it in the 1967-68
season and repeated in 1969. The domination totaled nine of
the ten championship banners of the 1960s.

Bill Russell defending Wilt Chamberlain

in 1966

Through this period, the NBA continued to strengthen with the shift of the Minneapolis
Lakers to Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, the Syracuse Nationals
to Philadelphia to become the Philadelphia 76ers, and the St. Louis Hawks moving to
Atlanta, as well as the addition of its first expansion franchises. The Chicago Packers (now
Washington Wizards) became the ninth NBA team in 1961. From 1966 to 1968, the
league expanded from 9 to 14 teams, introducing the Chicago Bulls, Seattle SuperSonics
(now Oklahoma City Thunder), San Diego Rockets (who relocated to Houston four years
later), Milwaukee Bucks, and Phoenix Suns.

In 1967, the league faced a new external threat with the formation of the American
Basketball Association (ABA). The leagues engaged in a bidding war. The NBA landed the
most important college star of the era, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew
Alcindor). However, the NBA's leading scorer, Rick Barry, jumped to the ABA, as did four
veteran refereesNorm Drucker, Earl Strom, John Vanak, and Joe Gushue.

In 1969, Alan Siegel, who oversaw the design of Jerry Dior's Major League Baseball logo a
year prior, created the modern NBA logo inspired by the MLB's. It incorporates the
silhouette of the legendary Jerry West based on a photo by Wen Roberts, although NBA
officials denied a particular player as being its influence because, according to Siegel,
"They want to institutionalize it rather than individualize it. It's become such a ubiquitous,
classic symbol and focal point of their identity and their licensing program that they don't
necessarily want to identify it with one player." The iconic logo debuted in 1971 and
would remain a fixture of the NBA brand.

The ABA succeeded in signing a number of major stars in the '70s, including Julius Erving of
the Virginia Squires, in part because it allowed teams to sign college undergraduates. The
NBA expanded rapidly during this period, one purpose being to tie up the most viable cities.
From 1966 to 1974, the NBA grew from nine franchises to 18. In 1970, the Portland Trail
Blazers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers) all made their
debuts expanding the league to 17. The New Orleans Jazz (now in Utah) came aboard in 1974
bringing the total to 18. Following the 1976 season, the leagues reached a settlement that
provided for the addition of four ABA franchises to the NBA, raising the number of franchises
in the league at that time to 22. The franchises added were the San Antonio Spurs, Denver
Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and New York Nets (now the Brooklyn Nets). Some of the biggest
stars of this era were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rick Barry, Dave Cowens, Julius Erving, Elvin
Hayes, Walt Frazier, Moses Malone, Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, Dan Issel, and Pete
Maravich. The end of the decade, however, saw declining TV ratings, low attendance and
drug-related player issues both perceived and real that threatened to derail the NBA.

Surging popularity

The league added the ABA's innovative three-point field

goal beginning in 1979 to open up the game. That same
year, rookies Larry Bird and Magic Johnson joined the
Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers respectively,
initiating a period of significant growth in fan interest in
the NBA throughout the country and the world. In 1984
they played against each other for the first time in the
NBA Finals. Johnson went on to lead the Lakers to five
titles, and Bird went on to lead the Celtics to three. Also in
the early '80s, the NBA added one more expansion
franchise, the Dallas Mavericks, bringing the total to 23
teams. Later on, Larry Bird won the first three three-point
shooting contests. Former league commissioner David
Stern who took office on February 1, 1984 before retiring
February 1, 2014, oversaw the expansion and growth of
the NBA to a global commodity.

Magic Johnson

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan entered the league in 1984 with the Chicago Bulls,
providing an even more popular star to support growing interest in the
league. This resulted in more cities demanding teams of their own. In 1988
and 1989, four cities got their wishes as the Charlotte Hornets, Miami
Heat, Orlando Magic, and Minnesota Timberwolves made their NBA
debuts, bringing the total to 27 teams. In the first year of the 1990s, the
Detroit Pistons would win the second of their back-to-back titles, led by
Chuck Daly and Isiah Thomas. Jordan and Scottie Pippen would lead the
Bulls to two three-peats in eight years during the 199198 seasons.
Hakeem Olajuwon won back-to-back titles with the Houston Rockets in '94
and '95. The 1992 Olympic basketball Dream Team, the first to use current
NBA stars, featured Michael Jordan as the anchor, along with Bird,
Johnson, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, Karl
Malone, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Charles Barkley, and Christian
Laettner. Eleven players on the Dream Team have been inducted into the
Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1995, the NBA expanded to Canada with the
addition of the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors. In 2001, the
Vancouver Grizzlies relocated to Memphis, which left the Raptors as the
only Canadian team in the NBA. In 1996, the NBA created a women's
league, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In 1998, the
NBA owners began a lockout which lasted 191 days and was settled on
January 18, 1999. As a result of this lockout the 199899 NBA season was
reduced from 82 to 50 games (61% of a normal season), and the All-Star
Game was cancelled. The San Antonio Spurs won their first championship,
and first by a former ABA team, by beating the New York Knicks, who were
the first, and to this date, the only, eighth seed to ever make it to the NBA
Finals.

Modern era

Since the breakup of the Chicago Bulls championship roster in

the summer of 1998, the Western Conference has dominated,
with the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs combining to
win the title in nine of fourteen years. Tim Duncan and David
Robinson won the 1999 championship with the Spurs, and
Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant started the 2000s with three
consecutive championships for the Lakers. The Spurs reclaimed
the title in 2003 against the Nets. In 2004, the Lakers returned
to the Finals, only to fall in five games to the Detroit Pistons.
After the Spurs took home the Larry O'Brien Championship
Trophy in 2005, the 2006 Finals featured two franchises making
their inaugural Finals appearances. The Miami Heat, led by their
star shooting guard, Dwyane Wade, and Shaquille O'Neal, who
had been traded from the Lakers during the 2004 summer, won
the series over the Dallas Mavericks in six after losing the first
two games. The Lakers/Spurs dominance continued in 2007
with a four-game sweep by the Spurs over the Cleveland
Cavaliers, who were led by LeBron James. The 2008 Finals saw a
rematch of the league's highest profile rivalry, the Boston
Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, with the Celtics prevailing, for
their league leading 17th championship, thanks to their new big
three of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett.

Bryant and ONeal

The 2010 NBA All-Star Game was held at Cowboys Stadium

in front of the largest crowd ever, 108,713. At the end of
that season, the Celtics and the Lakers renewed their rivalry
from 2008 when they met again in the NBA Finals for a
record 12th time. The Lakers won the title in Game 7, 83
79.Before the start of the 201011 season the NBA had an
exciting summer with one of the most anticipated free
agent classes of all time. Two of which signed, and one
resigned, with the Miami Heat, leading to a season that was
heavily centered on their eventual success or failure at
taking home the championship. The Heat, led by LeBron
James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, did in fact make the
Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, in a rematch for the
franchises of the 2006 Finals. The Mavericks, led by Dirk
Nowitzki (the eventual NBA Finals MVP), took the series in
six games. This was the Mavericks' first title. Other veterans
like Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd, and Jason Terry also won
their first titles with Nowitzki.
On July 1, 2011, at 12:01 am, the NBA announced another
lockout. After the first few weeks of the season were
canceled, the players and owners ratified a new collective
bargaining agreement on December 8, 2011, setting up a
shortened 66-game season. Following the shortened
season, the Miami Heat made a return to the Finals with
the trio of Dwyane Wade, Lebron James and Chris Bosh
against Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook
and James Harden. The Heat went on to defeat the Thunder
in five games, capturing their second NBA title in six years.

James(up) and Nowitzki(down)

NBA Teams Eastern Conference

Team

City

Arena

Boston Celtics

Boston

TD Garden

Brooklyn Nets

New York

Barclays Center

New York Knicks

New York

Madison Square Garden

Philadelphia 76ers

Philadelphia

Wells Fargo Center

Toronto Raptors

Toronto

Air Canada Centre

Chicago Bulls

Chicago

United Center

Cleveland Cavaliers

Cleveland

Quicken Loans Arena

Detroit Pistons

Auburn Hills

The Palace of Auburn Hills

Indiana Pacers

Indianapolis

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee

BMO Harris Bradley Center

Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta

Philips Arena

Charlotte Bobcats

Charlotte

Time Warner Cable Arena

Miami Heat

Miami

American Airlines Arena

Orlando Magic

Orlando

Amway Center

Washington Wizards

Washington

Verizon Center

NBA Teams Western Conference

Team

City

Arena

Denver Nuggets

Denver

Pepsi Center

Minnesota Timberwolves

Minneapolis

Target Center

Oklahoma City Thunder

Oklahoma

Chesapeake Energy Arena

Portland Trail Blazers

Portland

Moda Center

Utah Jazz

Salt Lake City

EnergySolutions Arena

Golden State Warriors

Oakland

Oracle Arena

Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles

Staples Center

Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles

Staples Center

Phoenix Suns

Phoenix

US Airways Center

Sacramento Kings

Sacramento

Sleep Train Arena

Dallas Mavericks

Dallas

American Airlines Center

Houston Rockets

Houtson

Toyota Center

Memphis Grizzlies

Memphis

FedExForum

New Orleans Pelicans

New Orleans

Smoothie King Center

San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio

AT&T Center

Top 10 NBA League champions

Teams

Win

Boston Celtics
Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers
Chicago Bulls
San Antonio Spurs
Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers
Miami Heat
New York Knicks
Houston Rockets
Washington Wizards
Atlanta Hawks

17
16
6
4
3
3
2
2
1
1

Loss Total
4
15
0
1
6
1
6
2
3
3

21
31
6
5
9
4
8
4
4
4