1949–50 NBA season

Fourth NBA season August 2023 1949–50 NBA season National Basketball Association Basketball October 29, 1949 – March 19, 1950 March 20 – April 6, 1950 (Playoffs) April 8–23, 1950 (Finals) 62-68 17 Draft 1949 BAA draft List of first overall NBA draft picks Howie Shannon Providence Steamrollers Regular season Syracuse Nationals George Mikan (Minneapolis) Playoffs 1950 NBA playoffs Eastern Eastern Division (NBA) Syracuse Nationals New York Knicks Central Central Division (NBA) Minneapolis Lakers Fort Wayne Pistons Western Western Division (NBA) Anderson Packers Indianapolis Olympians Finals 1950 NBA Finals Minneapolis Lakers Syracuse Nationals List of NBA seasons NBA 1948–49 (BAA)1948–49 (NBL) 1950–51 NBA season 1950–51 The 1949–50 NBA season was the inaugural season of the National Basketball Association, after the merger of the 3-year-old BAA and 12-year-old NBL.NBL, BAA merge, end pro net war https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-republic-nbl-baa-merge-end-pro-net/149768648/ 21 June 2024 The Republic UP 4 August 1949 11 Newspapers.comhttps://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nba-is-born NBA is born History November 16, 2009 September 17, 2020 The 1950 NBA playoffs ended with the Minneapolis Lakers winning the NBA championship, beating the Syracuse Nationals in 6 games in the NBA Finals.Glen Gaff Lakers win, 110-95, for third title https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune-lakers-win-110-95-for-thi/149954636/ 24 June 2024 Star Tribune 24 April 1950 1, 27 Newspapers.com The 1949–50 season is counted as the fourth season in league history, as it recognizes the three BAA seasons (1946–47, 1947–48 and 1948–49) as part of its own history, sometimes without comment.https://www.nba.com/history/season-recap-index NBA Season Recaps: 1946–2019 NBA.com July 24, 2019 September 17, 2020Curtis Harris How the NBA’s 75th anniversary sweeps away its early history https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/01/21/nba-history-nbl-baa/ 23 June 2024 The Washington Post 21 January 2022 As for the previous 12 seasons involving the NBL, with scant few exceptions involved, the NBA would not recognize the older league's records by comparison, despite it being the more established league of the two by comparison. Notable occurrences The Indianapolis Jets and Providence Steamrollers folded after the 1948–49 season, leaving the BAA with 10 teams. Excluding the Jets, three of those teams (Fort Wayne, Minneapolis, and Rochester) had joined the BAA from the National Basketball League (NBL) one year before. Six NBL franchises – (Anderson, Denver, Sheboygan, Syracuse, Tri-Cities, and Waterloo) and one expansion team (Indianapolis Olympians) – joined with the ten surviving BAA teams to create the National Basketball Association with 17 teams. Originally, an eighteenth team (a seventh team that played in the NBL in its last season) in the Oshkosh All-Stars were slated to join the NBA as well to make an even 18 teams for two divisions that reflected the old two leagues similar to what Major League Baseball had done for the National League and American League (though the Oshkosh franchise would have moved to Milwaukee, with Green Bay being an alternative location to move, with a potential name change to something like the Milwaukee All-Stars or the Milwaukee Shooting Stars (since previous reported rumors of the era suggested the All-Stars would merge with Milwaukee's independent team called the Shooting Stars after the final NBL season endedNelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 216) being had for the team as well), with one division comprising the former BAA teams playing 70 total games and the other comprising the former NBL teams (including the expansion Olympians team) playing a total of 69 games. However, when the Oshkosh franchise decided to withdraw from the newly created NBA and essentially fold operations not long afterward by September and October 1949, the NBA would abort that planned idea and hold the only season in league history where they had three divisions involved in the Eastern, Western, and temporarily created Central divisions (Central later being a permanent division for the NBA in future seasons) all playing a total of at least 62 games (30 home games for each team), with the Central Division having only five teams with the BAA's teams from the previous season (the prior three surviving NBL transfers into the BAA from the previous season alongside Chicago and St. Louis), the Eastern Division having six teams with mostly BAA teams from the prior season alongside Syracuse, and the Western Division having the remaining six teams from the former NBL, including the Olympians expansion team.Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, pp. 222–224 +Coaching changesOffseason Team 1948–49 BAA/NBL coach 1949–50 NBA coach Anderson Packers Murray Mendenhall (NBL) Howie Schultz Denver Nuggets Ralph Bishop (NBL) Jimmy Darden Fort Wayne Pistons Curly Armstrong (BAA) Murray Mendenhall Washington Capitols Red Auerbach (BAA) Bob FeerickIn-season Team Outgoing coach Incoming coach Anderson Packers Howie SchultzIke Duffey (interim) Ike Duffey (interim)Doxie Moore Tri-Cities Blackhawks Roger Potter Red Auerbach Waterloo Hawks Charley Shipp Jack Smiley Final standings In this inaugural NBA season only, the ten surviving teams from 1948–49 BAA season played a heavy schedule of games with each other and a light schedule with the seven NBL participants in the merger that created the league, and vice versa. Eastern Division Syracuse played a heavy schedule of 44 games against Western Division teams: on average just over seven games each, which would be the same amount as if they played each other (35 to 37 games against five Western rivals). The Western Division teams were generally weaker on the court; none of the teams there won half of its games played outside the division. Yet despite the lower amount of games played on their end, Syracuse won at the same 80% rate against the East and Central (16–4) as they did against the West (35–9). Central Division To define first and third place, the Lakers played one game against the Royals, while the Stags played one against the Pistons, preliminary to the 1950 NBA playoffs. The five Central Division teams and five Eastern teams beside Syracuse — that is, the ten former BAA teams – uniformly played 68 games: six games in each pairing among themselves (54) and two games each against each of the Western teams and Syracuse (14). Western Division The six Western Division teams and Syracuse—that is, the seven NBL participants in the merger—uniformly played two games each against every one of the ten BAA 1949 teams, the East and Central teams except Syracuse (20 games each). They played seven or nine games in each pairing among themselves (at least 42 games). x – clinched playoff spot 1950 NBA playoffs Playoffs 1950 NBA playoffs 1950 NBA playoffs Bracket yes no Statistics leaders + Category Player Team Stat Points George Mikan Minneapolis Lakers 1,865 Assists Dick McGuire New York Knicks 386 FG% Alex Groza Indianapolis Olympians .478 FT% Max Zaslofsky Chicago Stags .843 Note: Prior to the 1969–70 season, league leaders in points and assists were determined by totals rather than averages. NBA awards All-NBA First Team: Max Zaslofsky, Chicago Stags Bob Davies, Rochester Royals Alex Groza, Indianapolis Olympians George Mikan, Minneapolis Lakers Jim Pollard, Minneapolis Lakers All-NBA Second Team: Ralph Beard, Indianapolis Olympians Frank Brian, Anderson Packers Al Cervi, Syracuse Nationals Fred Schaus, Fort Wayne Pistons Dolph Schayes, Syracuse Nationals NBA Rookie of the Year C Alex Groza, Indianapolis Olympians See also List of NBA regular season records References General source: 1949–50 NBA Season Summary basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 31, 2010. "Expanded Standings". "1949–50 NBA Standings". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-03-04.