HISTORY OF THE CONTINENTAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

The Continental Basketball Association or CBA is a professional men's basketball league in the United States. The league views itself as a minor league that develops talent for the National Basketball Association. It is affiliated with USA Basketball, the sport's governing body in the U.S. It should not be confused with another CBA, the Chinese Basketball Association.

The CBA can date its origins back to April 23, 1946, when it was called the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League (1946-47). Between 1948 and 1970 it was called the Eastern Professional Basketball League, and then renamed the Eastern Basketball Association. On June 1, 1978, the league's name became the Continental Basketball Association. Tracing the league's operation back to its Pennsylvania origins, it claims to be the oldest professional basketball league in the world (the NBA's predecessor, the Basketball Association of America, also began operations in 1946, but in June of that year). Its first commissioner was Harry Rudolph, the father of Mendy Rudolph, one of the first great referees of the National Basketball Association.

In 1999, all the league's teams were purchased by an investment group led by former NBA star Isiah Thomas. The combined ownership plan was unsuccessful and the CBA declared bankruptcy and ceased operations on February 8, 2001. Some of its teams moved briefly to the International Basketball League.

In the fall of 2001, CBA and IBL teams merged with the International Basketball Association and purchased the assets of the defunct CBA, including its name, logo and records from the bankruptcy court and re-started operations, calling itself the CBA.