Basketball is the bread and butter for many Americans and Europeans. The National Basketball Association, or the NBA as it is more popularly known, has acted as the platform to launch some of the most prominent sportspersons in the history of the sport. Ranging from the legendary Michael Jordan, up to recent stars like Luka Doncic, whose heroics for Dallas Mavericks against Phoenix Suns broke the internet recently, many a star players have emerged from the NBA and have gone on to do great things in the sport.
But the question that a layman will always ask is -- How did one of the world's most popular sports leagues come into existence?
Back in 1948, two rival organisations -- the National Basketball League (NBL founded in 1937) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA founded in 1946) merged to form the NBA. Among the current outfits, five current teams in the NBA can trace their history back to the NBL: the Atlanta Hawks, the Detroit Pistons, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Sacramento Kings.
In 1967, another breakaway basketball league called the American Basketball Association (ABA) was founded, but the nascent league only lasted till 1976, when it was absorbed by the NBA, to get the present Basketball league that we have. Four ABA teams were absorbed into the older league: the New York Nets, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and San Antonio Spurs.
The importance of the ABA to the current NBA is immense. They were the league that introduced the now-popular slam dunk contest, which is played every year during the all-star game in Denver. However, there would not be another slam-dunk contest in the NBA at the professional level until 1984.
So who shot the first basket of the NBA?
This laurel lies with Ossie Schectman, who used to play for New York Knicks. In a conversation between Basketball author Charley Rosen and Radio host Bill Littlefield, Rosen was asked to describe the shot that would become the first-ever basket in the history of the NBA. The shot came during their opening match against the Toronto Huskies
He said, "Shectman got the ball at the foul line, dribbled once, went up with a two-handed, underhand layup, which was the shot at the time. That’s the way you’re supposed to shoot layups. And there were always differences of opinion as to who made that pass. One of his teammates, Nat Militzok, said he made the pass, but he was on the bench, so he probably didn’t do it. It probably was a guy named Leo Gottlieb who made the pass."
Since then, the tournament has improved leaps and bounds. From the two-pointers, the sport and the tournament saw the introduction of the three-pointer in 1967. The three-point line's first use in a professional league was back in 1961 in the American Basketball League. The ABL only lasted one and a half seasons before folding, so the three-pointer quickly went away for a while, before returning with the ABA. Since then, three-pointers have become the go-to shot for players looking to gain last-second points during a match.
From those days, the NBA has grown in leaps and bounds. The league is divided into two separate competitions -- the Eastern and Western conferences and both competitions have 15 teams each. The team with the most NBA trophies are the Los Angeles Lakers, who have the likes of LeBron James, and the Boston Celtics. Both sides have 17 trophies each, although the Celtics are close to taking a lead after reaching the final of the Eastern Conference.
