Early Leagues
From Hoopedia
Presented below is a chronological listing of the more significant amateur, semi-professional and professional leagues formed in the United States. The most significant leagues are in bold.
- National Basket Ball League (1898-1904)
- Philadelphia Basketball League (1902-1909)
- New England Basketball League (1903-1904)
- Western Massachusetts Basketball League (1903-1904)
- Western Pennsylvania Basketball League (1903-1904; 1912-1913; 1914-1915)
- New England Basketball Association (1904-1905)
- Olympian Athletic League (Amateur African American league established in 1907)
- Central Basket Ball League (1906-1912)
- Eastern Basket Ball League (1909-1933)
- Hudson River League (1909-12)
- New York State League (1911-23)
- Pennsylvania State League (1914-1921)
- Interstate League (1915-1920)
- Metropolitan Basketball Association (Amateur African American league established in 1920)
- Metropolitan Basketball League (1921-1928)
- American Basketball League (1925-1955)
- National Basketball League (1926-27)
- National Basketball League (1929-30)
- National Basketball League (1932-33)
- Midwest Basketball Conference (1935-1937; became National Basketball League with 1937-38 season)
- National Basketball League (1937-1949; merged with the BAA to become the National Basketball Association)
- Basketball Association of America (1946-1949; merged with the NBL to become the National Basketball Association)
- Continental Basketball Association (1946- )
- New York State Professional League (1946-1949)
- National Industrial Basketball League (1947-1961)
- National Basketball Association (1949- )
- American Basketball League (1961-1963)
- American Basketball Association (1967-1976)
