Sports historian Josh Elias stops by for a deep unraveling of the often misunderstood story behind the 1949 merger that created the National Basketball Association (NBA) as we know it today.

Drawing from his historically essential 2024 book The Birth of the Modern NBA: Pro Basketball in the Year of the Merger, 1949-1950, Elias takes us back to the pivotal moment when the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL) merged, uniting disparate big-city teams with small-town clubs - and setting the stage for professional basketball’s future in the US.

We dive into the tensions between East Coast metropolises and Midwestern industrial towns; the unexpected power struggles between the last BAA champion (and superstar George Mikan-led) Minneapolis Lakers and the final NBL winning Anderson (Indiana) Packers; and the NBA's early challenges with segregation, cultural divides, and an uncertain post-WWII American economy.

Elias also shares some of the wildest and most fascinating anecdotes from his research, including mob-connected team owners, bizarre halftime performances, airport mishaps, and brushes with history-making figures like Jackie Robinson, Chuck Connors, and even a young pre-politics Gerald R. Ford.

Step back as we revisit the NBA’s chaotic, colorful, and often overlooked first season - one that shaped the league for generations to come.

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The Birth of the Modern NBA: Pro Basketball in the Year of the Merger, 1949-1950 - buy here

The NBA's 75th anniversary season is well underway, and we take a reverential look this week at some of the league's most legendary dynasties, starting with its very first - the Minneapolis Lakers of the late 1940s/early 1950s - with sportswriter Marcus Thompson ("Dynasties: The 10 G.O.A.T Teams That Changed the NBA Forever").

While the Los Angeles version of the Lakers has been pumping out iconic clusters of championships since 1971 (including the Magic Johnson-led "Showtime"-era in the 1980s, and the Shaq/Kobe-powered bookends during the 2000s) - it was the team's genesis in Minnesota's Twin Cities during the league's fledgling first years that set the template for modern-day pro hoops greatness.

In fact, Minneapolis' Lakers franchise was dominating the game even before joining the NBA's inaugural season in 1949-50 as the champions of both of the circuit's predecessors - the penultimate season of the National Basketball League (1947-48) and the last season of the Basketball Association of America (1948-49).

Led by pro basketball's first true national superstar George Mikan, the Lakers piled up six championship trophies across three leagues between 1948-54 - including four out of the NBA's first five titles.

The Birth of the Modern NBA: Pro Basketball in the Year of the Merger, 1949-1950 - buy here

Dynasties: The 10 G.O.A.T Teams That Changed the NBA Forever - buy book here