On August 3, 1949, the National Basketball Association was born, comprising 17 organizations that ranged geographically from Boston to Denver and culturally from Manhattan to Sheboygan. The league being the result of a merger, there were two different reigning champions vying for NBA supremacy between the George Mikan–led Minneapolis Lakers and the small-town Anderson Packers, with teams from Syracuse, Rochester, New York, Chicago, and Indianapolis all hoping to upset the apple cart enough to take both teams down.
This history of the BAA–NBL merger that created the NBA demonstrates that, amid icy executive relations that reflected the league’s larger cultural clash between bustling East Coast metropolises and quiet Midwestern towns, the relentless march toward integration sneaking up quicker than expected on the segregated league, and the Second World War still distinctly visible in the rearview mirror and America’s involvement in Korea closer than it may have appeared, it was what lay just beyond basketball that mattered. From Tony Lavelli’s halftime accordion, Lee Knorek’s airport escapades, and Chicago Stags owner John Sbarbaro’s Capone–era mob ties to tales of antisemitism, systemic racism, and prisoners of war—with cameos from Jackie Robinson, Chuck Connors, and President Gerald Ford—the book brings back to life, in its totality, the NBA as it was nearly 75 years ago in the year of the merger.

Josh Elias is a sports historian specializing in basketball’s integration era and prior. He lives in Southern Arizona.

Josh Elias
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 245
Bibliographic Info: 20 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9417-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5242-9
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
1. The First Game, the Merger, and No Possible Chance Agreement 3
2. Origins, Naismith, and a Childhood Game Called Duck on a Rock 23
3. Ferris, Duffey, and the Undertaker for the Underworld 40
4. Black Basketball, the New York Renaissance, and ­Sidat-Singh Is Not a Hindu 61
5. Trade Season, the BAA, and Three-and-a-Half-Million Dollars 82
6. The Celtics, the New Year, and You Just Can’t Play Basketball with Glasses On 101
7. The Minor League Debate, the Future of the League, and Is President Podoloff Doing a Good Job? 118
8. Sales and Trades, the Playoff Picture Takes Shape, and Are Coaches People? 130
9. Baltimore vs. Boston vs. Philadelphia, a Crowd of Just 700, and King Fulks 142
10. The Playoffs 156
11. The Finals 172
12. Expulsion and Integration 185
Chapter Notes 211
Bibliography 223
Index 233