1946–47 BAA season

Updated on Sep 30, 2024

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Sport Basketball Eastern runners-up New York Knicks Champion Golden State Warriors Start date 1946 Finals champion Golden State Warriors		Eastern champions Philadelphia Warriors Western champions Chicago Stags Number of teams 11 Number of games 60 People also search for 1947-48 BAA season

League Basketball Association of America Duration November 1, 1946 – March 31, 1947 Top scorer Joe Fulks (Golden State Warriors)

The 1946–47 BAA season was the inaugural season of the Basketball Association of America. (Following its third, the 1948–49 season, the BAA and National Basketball League merged to create the National Basketball Association or NBA.) The league launched with 11 teams playing a 60-game schedule. The postseason tournament at its conclusion, the 1947 BAA Playoffs, ended with the Philadelphia Warriors becoming the first BAA Champion, beating the Chicago Stags 4 games to 1 in the BAA Finals.

The NBA recognizes the three BAA seasons as part of its own history, sometimes without comment, so BAA 1946–47 is sometimes considered the first NBA season.

Notable events

On November 1, 1946, in the inaugural game of the new league, the New York Knicks beat the Toronto Huskies 68–66 in front of 7,090 spectators at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Ossie Schectman scored the opening basket for the New York against Toronto. In 1949, the BAA helped create the National Basketball Association by merger, and Schectman's shot may be considered the first basket in NBA history. The NBA recognizes the three BAA seasons as part of its own history, sometimes without comment.