National Basketball League (United States)

The National Basketball League (NBL) was one of the oldest professional basketball leagues created in the United States. Established in 1935 as the Midwest Basketball Conference, it changed its name to the National Basketball League on October 6, 1937, weeks before it was set to begin its third season of play.

Before the NBL was created, the best basketball teams were barnstorming operations like the Original Celtics, the New York Renaissance, the Harlem Globetrotters, and the Philadelphia Sphas (some of whom also played in the rival American Basketball League). After the 1948–49 season, the NBL merged operations with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). Despite being younger than the NBL, the BAA was considered more prestigious due to its presence in larger cities. The modern NBA has adopted the BAA's history as its own, with the NBL's history garnering only occasional recognition.

Five current NBA teams trace their history back to the NBL: the Atlanta Hawks (formerly the Buffalo Bisons/Tri-Cities Blackhawks), the Detroit Pistons (formerly the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons), the Los Angeles Lakers (formerly the Detroit Gems/Minneapolis Lakers), the Philadelphia 76ers (formerly the Syracuse Nationals), and the Sacramento Kings (formerly the Rochester Royals, though their history dates back to 1923 as the Rochester Seagrams). Six former BAA/NBA teams also traced their roots to the NBL: the Indianapolis Jets (formerly the Indianapolis Kautskys), the Anderson Packers (formerly the Anderson Duffey Packers), the original Denver Nuggets (not to be confused with the current Denver Nuggets NBA team that exists from the former Denver RocketsABA team), the Sheboygan Red Skins, the Waterloo Hawks, and the Indianapolis Olympians (who were meant to be an NBL expansion team before joining the NBA instead). Another NBL team that is still active is the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots, who currently play as an Amateur Athletic Union Elite club.