Sport | Basketball |
---|---|
Founded | April 23, 1946 |
Ceased | June 1, 2009 |
Country | United States |
Continent | FIBA Americas (Americas) |
Last champion(s) |
Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry (3rd title) |
Most titles |
Allentown Jets Wilkes-Barre Barons (8 titles each) |
Official website | cbhoopsonline.com (archived on 9 February 2009) |
The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) was a professional men's basketball minor league in the United States. For most of its existence the CBA was the second-tier of men's professional basketball in the United States behind the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA formed a working agreement to develop players and referees in the CBA during the 1980s. Until the NBA formed the National Basketball Development League (now known as the NBA Gatorade League) in 2001, the CBA served as the official minor league to the NBA.
The Continental Basketball Association was a professional basketball minor league from 1946 to 2009. It billed itself as the "World's Oldest Professional Basketball League", since its founding on April 23, 1946 pre-dated the founding of the National Basketball Association by two months. The league's original name was the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League; it fielded six franchises – five in Pennsylvania (Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Allentown, Lancaster, and Reading) – with a sixth team in New York (Binghamton, which moved in mid-season to Pottsville, Pennsylvania). In 1948, the league was renamed the Eastern Professional Basketball League. Over the years it would add franchises in several other Pennsylvania cities, including Williamsport, Scranton, and Sunbury, as well as teams in New Jersey (Trenton, Camden, Asbury Park), Connecticut (New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport), Delaware (Wilmington) and Massachusetts (Springfield).