The
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA) is a professional men's
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
league, consisting of 30 teams in North America—29 in the United States and one in Canada. The NBA was founded in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on June 6, 1946, as the
Basketball Association of America (BAA).
It adopted the name National Basketball Association at the start of the
1949–50 season when it absorbed the
National Basketball League (NBL).
The NBA is an active member of
USA Basketball
USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States Olympi ...
, which is recognized by the
International Basketball Federation
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...
(FIBA) as the national governing body for basketball in the country. The league is considered to be one of the four
major professional sports leagues of North America.
Relocated teams
The list contains current franchises in the NBA. It does not include name changes.
+Active franchise
See also
*
List of defunct National Basketball Association teams
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional men's basketball league, consisting of thirty teams in North America (twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada). The NBA was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946, as the Ba ...
References
{{NBA
Sports team relocations