It started in 1946 with 11 teams and 160 players. The shot clock was almost 10 years away, and the 3-point line was several generations ahead. The building was small. So did the players. And it wasn’t even called the National Basketball Association.
The NBA 75 years ago was different in almost every conceivable way.
Over the next few months, The Associated Press will look back on what the league was on and off the court, what it was like, and where it will go in the next 25 years as it moves toward the mark of the century.
The series is reminiscent of their humble beginnings with Ossie Schectman, who won the league’s first basketball game, created a $ 60 game. From the league’s path to integration in the 1950s to today’s attitude towards social issues and racial relations, we’ll show you how what’s happening in this country reflects what’s happening in the league.
In those early years, the team lost a lot of money. Some of the first franchises were only in the first season and were collapsed after the first year. There was no strong support and the NBA had little or no impact on social issues.
And all the players were white.
“None of us playing at the time knew what would happen,” Shektmann, who played for the former New York Knicks, said in a 2010 interview three years before his death. “I didn’t know if this would work and something would happen.”
Schectman won the first basket in the history of the Basketball Association of America. It wasn’t called the NBA until three years later, but the NBA counts those years as its own part. This was Knicks’ underhand layup in a match at the Toronto Huskies on November 1, 1946, with the first two points in league history and counting at 13.7 million.
Eventually, Schectman got his answer: the NBA will certainly be something.
Today, the 30 NBA franchises are worth at least $ 100 billion in total, and perhaps well above that. The league has a worldwide fan base and a reputation for being a leader in social issues.
Richard Lapchick, son of former New York Knicks coach Joe Lapchick and researcher on social and racial issues in sports, said the league platform has always provided an opportunity to be a conduit for change. rice field.
“We sincerely believe that the NBA, with Adam Silver as its current leader, is participating in this for good reason and supports America’s largest integrated workforce in terms of population proportions,” Laptic said. Says. They are also so wealthy that they can use their resources to invest in social justice campaigns in the community. This is new. “
From the almost unprecedented level of additional support to the Historically Black Colleges to LeBron James, who will lead the voting and registration pushes that will play an important role in 2020, there is a lot of change by players in recent years. There was a commitment. Presidential election.
Steve Ballmer, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, believes he knows why basketball tends to have such an impact on society.
“I’m going to say something a little ridiculous,” Ballmer said. “How many sports can you actually see the players? Soccer, wearing a helmet. Baseball players are center-fielders and quite far apart. Even soccer and hockey are wearing helmets and moving at super high speeds. There are people. People can have relationships with basketball players. You can see them. You can feel them.
“Fewer players means we can get more interviews and know a particular personality than any other sport,” he added. “In fact, that’s a very important aspect of why basketball is at the forefront of social change.”
Like many, Initially it was the hardest..
The Philadelphia Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors) won the league’s first title at the Chicago Stags in 1947. By the start of the next season, four of the 11 original teams had folded. The league added teams from Baltimore and played in eight franchises in the second season.
The 60-game schedule has been reduced to 48 to save on travel costs. Hockey executive Maurice Podlov, the first president of the BAA and ultimately the first NBA commissioner, is tasked with saving the league, winning the fight against rival National Basketball League, and drawing attention to the players. I did.
In May 1948, he won the battle. Four teams, Indianapolis, Rochester, Fort Wayne and Minneapolis, are said to have left the NBL and had the biggest name in basketball with George Mikan.
“Maurice Podlov painted the unknown world of the NBA,” said the late David Stern, a 30-year NBA commissioner, when Podlov died. “He took the idea and cultivated professional basketball throughout its formation. It was the efforts of sports pioneers like Podlov that made the NBA a part of everyday life in the American sports scene.”
By 1949 NBA turned the corner.. The league has more than doubled with up to 17 teams. The team was profitable. The brand change to the NBA is complete. And now that the evolution in the conference room is complete, it’s time to evolve on the floor.
Japanese-American Wat Misaka was drafted in 1947 and played for Knicks, but the race wall had been breached, but he was barely noticed as he played only three games. I couldn’t. NS The first black player was three years away From joining the league, from changing the face of the game forever.
As the country changed and moved from World War II to the civil rights movement, the NBA was at a standstill. Since then, change has led to anxiety and division, as has happened in recent years across the United States. But the NBA pushed the times and the present.
“That’s all about the country and what it should be,” said Jerry West, the NBA’s Great Basketball Hall of Fame. “It’s about fair play, and for years there hasn’t been a lot of fair play in the country. I think the NBA has been at the forefront of that. It’s great to see it.”
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75-year-old NBA: From a very modest beginning to a huge one | Nationwide
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