Just like every act of creation is preceded by destruction, NBA too was created by destruction and merger of two leagues:
(I) National Basketball League (NBL): In 1937, three big corporations: General Electric, Firestone and Goodyear came together to form NBL and targeted primarily small markets and corporate teams.
(II) Basketball Association of America (BAA): To challenge the hegemony of NBL, the BAA was incorporated in 1946 for major-markets in arenas such as Boston Garden and Madison Square Garden (New York). On August 3, 1949, representatives of both the leagues met at the BAA office in New York’s Empire State Building to finalize the merger of the new NBA. The new NBA comprised of 17 teams consisting of both small towns and large cities, but within 6 years the number of teams dropped to 8 plagued by financial troubles. In the 1960's the winds of the NBA started to pick up slowly, however, another rival sprang up in the form of American Basketball Association (ABA). The ABA was courageous, delusional, electric, rowdy, pugnacious, sometimes cocky and oftentimes hilarious. They came like a thunder with eccentric players, suited coaches, whacky logos and most importantly: Never-say-die attitude! The ABA was not messing around, they could not afford to. Their goal was neither to be the second option nor to challenge the NBA, but merge into NBA and make tons of money. In 1976, the NBA agreed to merge with the ABA, and basketball purists know they helped to make the game what it is today: the place where amazing happens!