When I first started researching the origins of the NBA, I honestly didn't expect to find such a dramatic story behind that very first championship. Most fans today see the NBA as this polished, global phenomenon, but back in 1946-47, professional basketball was something entirely different. The league we now know as the NBA actually began as the Basketball Association of America (BAA), and that inaugural season was a wild experiment in organized professional basketball. What fascinates me most isn't just who won, but how they managed to survive that grueling inaugural season - a reality that echoes strikingly with the sentiment from our reference material about the relentless nature of professional competition compared to local tournaments where you could stick with your core seven players and get proper rest between games.
The Philadelphia Warriors emerged as that first champion, led by the legendary Joe Fulks, who I consider one of the most underappreciated pioneers in basketball history. What many don't realize is that the Warriors weren't necessarily the dominant force throughout that entire season - they finished 35-25, which was good but not spectacular in the Eastern Division. The Chicago Stags actually had the best regular season record at 39-22. But when the playoffs began, something clicked for the Warriors. They defeated the Stags in five games in what was then a best-of-seven semifinal series, setting up a championship showdown against the Western Division champion Chicago Stags. Wait, no, I need to correct myself - my notes show it was actually the Philadelphia Warriors against the Chicago Stags in the finals, with the Warriors winning 4-1 in the series.
What strikes me about that championship run is how different the experience was from today's carefully managed NBA seasons. The reference material perfectly captures this contrast - "It's not like the local tournaments where you can stick to a specific seven and then get to rest 4-5 days before the next game. Here, every game you play and you're expected to play with anyone who is put inside the court." That was the reality for those 1947 Warriors. They didn't have the luxury of sticking to a tight rotation or getting extended rest between games. The schedule was brutal, with teams playing back-to-back nights frequently, sometimes even traveling by train between cities overnight. Coach Eddie Gottlieb had to constantly adjust his lineup, using different combinations of players based on availability and matchups.
Joe Fulks averaged an incredible 23.2 points per game during that championship season, which was astronomical for an era when teams often didn't even score 80 points total. The "Jumping Joe" nickname wasn't just for show - his revolutionary jumping shot technique changed how basketball was played. I've always been fascinated by how Fulks developed his game without the benefit of today's training methods or film study. He just had this natural talent for scoring that nobody could quite figure out how to defend. The Warriors supporting cast included players like Howie Dallmar and Angelo Musi, who might not be household names today but were crucial to that championship run. Musi in particular was what we'd now call a "3-and-D" player before such terms existed - reliable defensively and capable of hitting outside shots.
The financial aspect of that first championship often gets overlooked too. The entire Warriors franchise had been purchased for just $25,000 before the season, and each player on the championship team received about $2,000 as their share of the playoff money. Adjusted for inflation, that's roughly $28,000 today - less than many current NBA players make per game. They weren't playing for fame or massive contracts; they genuinely loved the game and wanted to prove professional basketball could work as a league. That purity of purpose is something I find increasingly rare in modern sports.
When the Warriors finally clinched that first championship on April 22, 1947, with an 83-80 victory in Game 5, it validated the entire concept of the BAA. The league would eventually merge with the NBL to become the NBA three years later, but that first season proved professional basketball could capture the public's imagination. What I admire most about that Warriors team is how they adapted to the challenges described in our reference material - they embraced the reality of playing different lineups, dealing with minimal rest, and performing regardless of who was available on any given night. That flexibility and resilience became the blueprint for successful teams in the decades that followed.
Looking back now, with the benefit of historical perspective, I'd argue that first Warriors championship established patterns we still see in today's NBA. The importance of having a transcendent scorer like Fulks, the need for roster flexibility, the mental toughness required to navigate a long season - these elements remain just as crucial today. While the game has evolved tremendously in terms of athleticism, strategy, and global reach, the core challenges of professional basketball haven't changed as much as we might think. Those 1947 Warriors faced the same fundamental test that every champion since has overcome: adapting to whatever the season throws at you, game after game, with whoever is available to play. That's why their historic journey still resonates more than seven decades later, and why I keep coming back to their story whenever modern teams face adversity.