All NBA Teams - Since 1946

From 1946 to 1949, the league was called the Basketball Association of America (BAA), and the franchises that played in it during that period are included in this quiz ! However, ABL’s and NBL’s teams are not included, because ABL and NBL are not known as the ancestors of the NBA. At the beginning of the NBA, only divisions existed, not conferences. However, starting in 1970, teams were organized into both divisions and conferences (Eastern and Western). In this quiz, the divisions shown will be the ones teams played in before 1970, while after 1970 only the conference will be indicated.

Since many teams have slightly changed their names over time, you must enter the team’s full name. Also, sometimes certain franchises leave the NBA and then return years later under the same name. In this specific case, both versions of the team will be included at different points in the quiz, with the correct dates provided in the HINT column to help you.

In this quiz, the “Hint” column shows the year each franchise joined the league (BAA or NBA so if a franchise was created before 1946, but went in BAA in, for exemple, 1948, the first year will be 1948. Also, when teams left NBA to go in NPBL, it’s their last year in NBA that counts.) and the year it left it, as well as the conference in which it played.

Some franchises remained the same, but their names changed over time. In those cases, each different team name counts separately in this quiz. The first, second,…etc name will be indicated in the HINT column. Of course, when a team joins the BAA or the NBA under a different name from the one it had at the time of its creation — which occurred before the founding of the BAA or the NBA — the name considered to be the franchise’s first name will be the one it used upon entering the BAA or the NBA.