Western Division (NBA)
League | National Basketball Association |
---|---|
Sport | Basketball |
First season | 1946–47 BAA season |
Ceased | 1969–70 NBA season |
Replaced by | Western Conference |
Last champion(s) | Atlanta Hawks (7th title) (1970) |
Most titles | Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers (8 titles) |
The Western Division was a division in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its forerunner, the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The division was created at the start of the 1946–47 BAA season,[1] when the league was created, and was then kept as one of the divisions when BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to create the NBA on August 3, 1949.[2] The division existed until the 1970–71 NBA season when the NBA expanded from 14 to 17 teams and realigned into the Eastern and Western conferences with two divisions each.[3]
Teams
Team | City | Year | From | Year | To | Current division |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Joined | Left | |||||
Anderson Packers | Anderson, Indiana | 1949 | —* | 1950 | NPBL | — |
Tri-Cities Blackhawks (1949–1951) Milwaukee Hawks (1951–1955) St. Louis Hawks (1955–1968) Atlanta Hawks (1968–present) | Moline, Illinois Milwaukee, Wisconsin St. Louis, Missouri Atlanta, Georgia | 1949 | —* | 1970 | Central Division | Southeast Division |
Baltimore Bullets (original) | Baltimore, Maryland | 1947 | ABL | 1948 | Eastern Division | — |
Chicago Packers (1961–1962) Chicago Zephyrs (1962–1963) Baltimore Bullets (1963–1966) (now the Washington Wizards) | Chicago, Illinois Chicago, Illinois Baltimore, Maryland | 1961 | —† | 1966 | Eastern Division | Southeast Division |
Chicago Bulls | Chicago, Illinois | 1966 | —† | 1970 | Midwest Division | Central Division |
Chicago Stags | Chicago, Illinois | 1946 | § | 1949 | Central Division | — |
Rochester Royals (1948–1949, 1950–1957) Cincinnati Royals (1957–1962) (now the Sacramento Kings) | Rochester, New York Cincinnati, Ohio | 1948 1950 | NBL Central Division | 1949 1962 | Central Division Eastern Division | Pacific Division |
Cleveland Rebels | Cleveland, Ohio | 1946 | § | 1947 | Folded | — |
Denver Nuggets | Denver, Colorado | 1949 | —* | 1950 | Folded | — |
Detroit Falcons | Detroit, Michigan | 1946 | § | 1947 | Folded | — |
Fort Wayne Pistons (1948–1949, 1950–1957) Detroit Pistons (1957–present) | Fort Wayne, Indiana Detroit, Michigan | 1948 1950 | NBL Central Division | 1949 1967 | Central Division Eastern Division | Central Division |
Indianapolis Jets | Indianapolis, Indiana | 1948 | NBL | 1949 | Folded | — |
Indianapolis Olympians | Indianapolis, Indiana | 1949 | —† | 1953 | Folded | — |
Minneapolis Lakers (1948–1949, 1950–1960) Los Angeles Lakers (1960–present) | Minneapolis, Minnesota Los Angeles, California | 1948 1950 | NBL Central Division | 1949 1970 | Central Division Pacific Division | Pacific Division |
Phoenix Suns | Phoenix, Arizona | 1968 | —† | 1970 | Midwest Division | Pacific Division |
Pittsburgh Ironmen | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | 1946 | § | 1947 | Folded | — |
San Diego Rockets (now the Houston Rockets) | San Diego, California | 1967 | —† | 1970 | Pacific Division | Southwest Division |
San Francisco Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors) | San Francisco, California | 1962 | Eastern Division | 1970 | Pacific Division | Pacific Division |
Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) | Seattle, Washington | 1967 | —† | 1970 | Pacific Division | Northwest Division |
Sheboygan Red Skins | Sheboygan, Wisconsin | 1949 | —* | 1950 | NPBL | — |
St. Louis Bombers | St. Louis, Missouri | 1946 | § | 1949 | Central Division | — |
Washington Capitols | Washington, D.C. | 1947 | Eastern Division | 1948 | Eastern Division | — |
Waterloo Hawks | Waterloo, Iowa | 1949 | —* | 1950 | NPBL | — |
- Notes
- § founding BAA team
- † denotes an expansion team.
- * denotes a team that merged from the National Basketball League (NBL)
Team timeline
Division champions
^ | Had or tied for the best regular season record for that season |
Titles by team
Team | Titles | Season(s) won |
---|---|---|
Minneapolis Lakers/Los Angeles Lakers | 8 | 1950–51, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1968–69 |
St. Louis Hawks/Atlanta Hawks | 7 | 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1967–68, 1969–70 |
Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) | 2 | 1948–49, 1951–52 |
Fort Wayne Pistons (now the Detroit Pistons) | 2 | 1954–55, 1955–56 |
San Francisco Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors) | 2 | 1963–64, 1966–67 |
Chicago Stags | 1 | 1946–47 |
St. Louis Bombers | 1 | 1947–48 |
Indianapolis Olympians | 1 | 1949–50 |
Season results
^ | Denotes team that won the BAA/NBA championships |
+ | Denotes team that lost the BAA/NBA Finals |
* | Denotes team that qualified for the BAA/NBA playoffs |
Season | Team (record) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | |
| |||||||
1946–47 | Chicago+ (39–22) | St. Louis* (38–23) | Cleveland* (30–30) | Detroit (20–40) | Pittsburgh (15–45) | ||
| |||||||
1947–48 | St. Louis* (29–19) | Baltimore^ (28–20) | Chicago* (28–20) | Washington* (28–20) | |||
| |||||||
1948–49 | Rochester* (45–15) | Minneapolis^ (44–16) | Chicago* (38–22) | St. Louis* (29–31) | Fort Wayne (22–38) | Indianapolis (18–42) | |
| |||||||
1949–50 | Indianapolis* (39–25) | Anderson* (37–27) | Tri-Cities* (29–35) | Sheboygan* (22–40) | Waterloo (19–43) | Denver (11–51) | |
| |||||||
1950–51 | Minneapolis* (44–24) | Rochester^ (41–27) | Fort Wayne* (32–36) | Indianapolis* (31–37) | Tri-Cities (25–43) | ||
| |||||||
1951–52 | Rochester* (41–25) | Minneapolis^ (40–26) | Indianapolis* (34–32) | Fort Wayne* (29–37) | Milwaukee (17–49) | ||
1952–53 | Minneapolis^ (48–22) | Rochester* (44–26) | Fort Wayne* (36–33) | Indianapolis* (28–43) | Milwaukee (27–44) | ||
| |||||||
1953–54 | Minneapolis^ (46–26) | Rochester* (44–28) | Fort Wayne* (40–32) | Milwaukee (21–51) | |||
1954–55 | Fort Wayne+ (43–29) | Minneapolis* (40–32) | Rochester* (29–43) | Milwaukee (26–46) | |||
| |||||||
1955–56 | Fort Wayne+ (37–35) | Minneapolis* (33–39) | St. Louis* (33–39) | Rochester (31–41) | |||
1956–57 | St. Louis+ (34–38) | Minneapolis* (34–38) | Fort Wayne* (34–38) | Rochester (31–41) | |||
| |||||||
1957–58 | St. Louis^ (41–31) | Detroit* (33–39) | Cincinnati* (33–39) | Minneapolis (19–53) | |||
1958–59 | St. Louis* (49–23) | Minneapolis+ (33–39) | Detroit* (28–44) | Cincinnati (19–53) | |||
1959–60 | St. Louis+ (46–29) | Detroit* (30–45) | Minneapolis* (25–50) | Cincinnati (19–56) | |||
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1960–61 | St. Louis+ (51–28) | Los Angeles* (36–43) | Detroit* (34–45) | Cincinnati (33–46) | |||
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1961–62 | Los Angeles+ (54–26) | Cincinnati* (43–37) | Detroit* (37–43) | St. Louis (29–51) | Chicago (18–62) | ||
| |||||||
1962–63 | Los Angeles+ (53–27) | St. Louis* (48–32) | Detroit* (34–46) | San Francisco (31–49) | Chicago (25–55) | ||
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1963–64 | San Francisco+ (48–32) | St. Louis* (46–34) | Los Angeles* (42–38) | Baltimore (31–49) | Detroit (23–57) | ||
1964–65 | Los Angeles+ (49–31) | St. Louis* (45–35) | Baltimore* (37–43) | Detroit (31–49) | San Francisco (17–63) | ||
1965–66 | Los Angeles+ (45–35) | Baltimore* (38–42) | St. Louis* (36–44) | San Francisco (35–45) | Detroit (22–58) | ||
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1966–67 | San Francisco+ (44–37) | St. Louis* (39–42) | Los Angeles* (36–45) | Chicago* (33–48) | Detroit (30–51) | ||
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1967–68 | St. Louis* (56–26) | Los Angeles+ (52–30) | San Francisco* (43–39) | Chicago* (29–53) | Seattle (23–59) | San Diego (15–67) | |
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1968–69 | Los Angeles+ (55–27) | Atlanta* (48–34) | San Francisco* (41–41) | San Diego* (37–45) | Chicago (33–49) | Seattle (30–52) | Phoenix (16–66) |
1969–70 | Atlanta* (48–34) | Los Angeles+ (46–36) | Chicago* (39–43) | Phoenix* (39–43) | Seattle (36–46) | San Francisco (30–52) | San Diego (27–55) |
|
References
- ^ Goldaper, Sam. "The First Game". NBA.com. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ "NBA is born". History.com. November 16, 2009. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ "N.B.A. Is Realigned Into Four Divisions". The New York Times. April 24, 1970. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
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