On this day: Billups, Mercer, Thomas, Carlisle debut; Edwards born
On this day, former Celtics Chauncey Billups, Ron Mercer, John Thomas and Rick Carlisle made their debut for Boston, and Blue Edwards was born.
Tag: ron mercer
On this day: NBA founded; Mercer, Moïso dealt; Overton born
On this day, the Celtics became part of the NBA after the Basketball Association of America/National Basketball League merger in 1949.
On this day in 1949, the National Basketball Association was born, with the Boston Celtics a foundational franchise in it.
Former from the merger of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL – not to be confused with the Australian league of today with the same name, or any of several less-prominent leagues of the same name).
The Celtics, who had been part of the BAA since its inception three years earlier, benefited greatly from the merger of the two leagues via players they drafted from the dispersal drafts of teams which did not join the newly formed NBA, like Ed Macauley.
The new league would have 17 teams playing in some of the larger arenas in the United States, and while it would lose a number of those teams in its first few seasons, it would then slowly grow into the 30-team league we know today.