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Special · 80 years of the league

History of the NBA
80 years on one timeline

From a handful of hockey arena owners in 1946 to the league that changed world sport. Eight eras, their dynasties and the moments that bent everything out of shape.

seasons (1946–2026)

franchises

rings for the most decorated

points by Wilt in one night

1946 – 1956

The founding

Eleven arena owners create the BAA to fill their venues on nights without hockey. In 1949 it absorbs the NBL and the NBA is born. The invention that saves it: the 24-second clock.

George Mikan

1946

The BAA is born

Founded in New York on 6 June. The first game: Knicks 68–66 Huskies, in Toronto.

1949

BAA + NBL = NBA

The merger of the two rival leagues creates the National Basketball Association, with 17 teams.

1950

The colour barrier falls

Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper and Nat Clifton debut as the league's first Black players.

1954

★

The 24-second clock

Danny Biasone's idea (Syracuse). It ends frozen games and sends the pace of play soaring.

5×

Minneapolis Lakers (1949–1954)

George Mikan, the first dominant big man, turns the Lakers into the first dynasty.

1957 – 1969

The Celtic empire

The most crushing dynasty in American sport: 11 titles in 13 years, with Bill Russell as the defensive anchor and, at the end, as player-coach.

Bill Russell

Wilt Chamberlain

Bob Cousy

1957

Boston's first ring

Russell (a rookie) and Cousy win the first of the era's 11 crowns.

1962

★

Wilt's 100

Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points against the Knicks in Hershey. Nobody has come close since.

1962

Averaging 50.4 points

Wilt's season: 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds a game. Video-game numbers, and real.

1966

Eight titles in a row

Boston completes the 'eightpeat' (1959–1966). No American team has ever repeated it.

1968

Russell, a pioneer on the bench

First Black head coach to win a title in a major US league. He repeats in 1969 and retires.

11×

Boston Celtics (1957–1969)

Russell, Cousy, Havlicek and Red Auerbach's hand. A bar nobody has touched since.

1967 – 1979

The ABA and expansion

A rival league with a tricolour ball, dunks and a three-point line forces the NBA to modernise. In 1976 they merge and the NBA inherits its showmanship… and Julius Erving.

Julius Erving

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Jerry West

1967

The ABA is born

A red, white and blue ball, the three-pointer and the dunk contest. The 'show' league.

1972

33 wins in a row

West and Chamberlain's Lakers put together the longest streak in history and the 1972 ring.

1976

★

The merger

Nets, Nuggets, Pacers and Spurs join the NBA. Dr. J becomes the face of the new league.

1979

The three-pointer arrives

The NBA adopts the ABA's three-point line. It will take 30 years to truly explode.

2×

New York Knicks (1970 and 1973)

The collective side of Willis Reed, Frazier and Bradley; Reed's mythical limping entrance in Game 7 of 1970.

1979 – 1988

Magic & Bird

Two rookies who had been rivals since the 1979 college final rescue a league in crisis. Lakers and Celtics win 8 of the decade's 10 titles and the rivalry changes everything.

Magic Johnson

Larry Bird

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

1979

Magic and Bird arrive

Los Angeles 'Showtime' against the workman from French Lick. The NBA finds its story.

1980

Magic, a centre in the Finals

With Kareem injured, a 20-year-old rookie plays centre and puts up 42 points in Game 6.

1984

★

Stern and the unrepeatable draft

David Stern takes over as commissioner; that draft brings Jordan, Hakeem, Barkley and Stockton.

1984

Celtics – Lakers, at last

Their first Finals of the Magic-Bird era. Boston wins in 7; L.A. gets even in 1985.

1987

The 'junior sky hook'

Magic's hook at the Garden seals the 1987 Finals, the peak of Showtime.

5×

Los Angeles Lakers (1980–1988)

Magic, Kareem and Worthy: Showtime wins 5 rings and the 1987-88 Finals, the first back-to-back in 19 years.

1989 – 1998

The Jordan era

Six Finals, six rings, six Finals MVPs. Michael Jordan turns the NBA into a global phenomenon and leaves the measuring stick everything is still compared against.

Michael Jordan

Scottie Pippen

Hakeem Olajuwon

1991

The first three-peat

Chicago strings together 1991, 1992 and 1993. Jordan dethrones the Pistons and Magic on the way.

1992

★

The Dream Team

Barcelona '92: the greatest team ever assembled globalises basketball forever.

1995

“I'm back”

Two words by fax and Jordan returns from baseball. The following year, 72-10.

1996

72 wins

The Bulls post the best record in history to that point (72-10) and a fourth ring.

1998

The Last Shot

A steal off Malone, a crossover on Russell and a bucket with 5.2 seconds left. A sixth ring and goodbye at the summit.

6×

Chicago Bulls (1991–1998)

Jordan, Pippen and Phil Jackson: two three-peats separated by two baseball seasons.

1999 – 2010

Shaq, Kobe and the Spurs

After the 1999 lockout, the league splits between the Shaq-Kobe hurricane and Popovich's silent machine. And the international wave arrives: Dirk, Gasol, Yao, Manu, Parker.

Shaquille O'Neal

Kobe Bryant

Tim Duncan

2000

A three-peat in Los Angeles

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant sweep all before them: champions in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

2003

The class of 2003

LeBron, Wade, Carmelo and Bosh enter the league. The next decade already has its leads.

2006

★

Kobe's 81

81 points against Toronto, the second best mark in history behind Wilt's 100.

2008

Boston's Big Three

Garnett, Pierce and Allen bring the ring back 17 years later and foreshadow the superteam era.

2010

Kobe does it again without Shaq

Game 7 against Boston: Bryant's fifth ring and a second straight title for Gasol's Lakers.

4×

San Antonio Spurs (1999–2007)

Duncan, Popovich and an unrepeatable culture: 4 titles in 9 years without making a sound (and a 5th in 2014).

2011 – 2019

Superteams and the three-point revolution

'The Decision' opens the superteam era and Stephen Curry breaks the geometry of the game: the NBA goes from 18 three-pointers attempted a game to more than 32.