1947–48 National Basketball League (United States) season

The 1947–48 NBL season was the thirteenth overall season for the U.S.A.'s National Basketball League (NBL) and its eleventh and penultimate season under that name after previously going by the Midwest Basketball Conference (a semipro or amateur precursor to the NBL) in its first two seasons of existence. Entering this season, the NBL would see the addition of the Flint Dow A.C.'s (who would move operations in the middle of the season to Midland to become the Midland Dow A.C.'s, with future mentions of the team going forward representing them as the Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s instead), who had originally operated as an Amateur Athletic Union turned works team that was intended to join the NBL the previous season before missing its initial deadline there.

It would also see the removal of both the Youngstown Bears due to financial difficulties and the defending NBL champion Chicago American Gears due to team owner Maurice White being bitter about not being named the President of the NBL and instead defecting his team from the league to create a rivaling professional basketball league of his own called the Professional Basketball League of America (which turned out to be a very short-lived rivaling league).

Despite the number of teams decreasing by one this season, the eleven NBL teams would compete in the highest number of regular season scheduled games yet in the league with either 59 or 60 total games played for each team. For the second season in a row, the NBL would utilize an extra round of playoff competition, in which the four best teams in each division in the opening round (with the best team competing against the third-best team in each division, while the second-best team faced off against the fourth-best team in each division in best of five series matchups), with the two remaining teams from each division faced off against each other in best of three series matchups in what was considered to be the "Division Semifinals" for each division there before the two teams from each division competed against each other in a return to the best of five series matchup for the NBL championship.

For this series, the Minneapolis Lakers (who would operate as a hard reboot from the previous season's Detroit Gems franchise and acquire star center George Mikan from the Chicago American Gears from a dispersal draft during the season) would defeat the Rochester Royals three games to one for the Lakers' first and only NBL championship won while in that league, as well as their first ever professional championship won in franchise history. An entire book focusing on the NBL's existence would be released in 2009 by historian and author Murry R. Nelson called "The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949", with an entire chapter being dedicated to this season of play.^[1]

After their next and final season of existence as the NBL occurred, the NBL and Basketball Association of America (the latter league only officially existing during this previous season) merged operations to create the National Basketball Association. Despite the NBL continuing to exist until the 1948–49 NBL season as the longer-lasting operation, the NBL would not recognize the twelve NBL seasons (nor the two MBC precursor seasons nor even the one National Professional Basketball League season that inspired the league's creation) as a part of its own history (outside of certain circumstances), sometimes without comment. As such, none of the previous twelve NBL seasons nor even the two MBC seasons would officially be recognized by the NBA, with the NBA recognizing the 1946–47 BAA season as its first official season of play instead.

Following the end of this season, four of the eleven NBL teams that competed in the league this season would successfully switch leagues before the start of the new season, with the new defending NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers, the runner-up Rochester Royals, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, and the Indianapolis Kautskys all successfully defecting from the NBL to the BAA for the 1948–49 BAA season (though the Zollner Pistons and Kautskys would have to rebrand themselves due to them utilizing business sponsors as their team names while in the NBL, which they did as the Fort Wayne Pistons and Indianapolis Jets respectively). Two other NBL teams in the Oshkosh All-Stars and the Toledo Jeeps also tried to defect from the NBL to the BAA as well, but they both failed to do so by comparison themselves for reasons that likely related to conditions involving their home venues at the time (with Oshkosh's venue being too small for the BAA's standards (with them still using the 2,000 seated South Park School Gymnasium by this time instead of upgrading their venue like the Sheboygan Red Skins had already done, likely only justifying it due to the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons still playing in the North Side High School Gym themselves (which does hold twice as many people, albeit with a smaller basketball court somehow)) and Toledo's basketball court having the wrong kind of floor to play the game on with slippery terrazzo being used instead of the typical wooden flooring^[2]). Not only that, but both the aforementioned Toledo Jeeps and the Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s would leave the NBL due to financial difficulties after this season's end as well, leaving the league with only five teams remaining in the league for this season. However, of the teams that still remained intact by this season that would still compete for the NBL's final season of play, four more teams in the Anderson Duffey Packers (who would since rebrand themselves as just the Anderson Packers), the Sheboygan Red Skins, the Syracuse Nationals, and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks would all see themselves enter the National Basketball Association alongside the Lakers, Royals, and (Zollner) Pistons from this season once the NBL-BAA merger officially happened, with the Oshkosh All-Stars also being considered at one point, though they ultimately declined their entry themselves. Both Anderson and Sheboygan would only stay in the NBA to play for the 1949–50 NBA season before leaving the league to create their own rivaling professional basketball league (similar to what the Chicago American Gears had done to compete against the NBL) called the National Professional Basketball League (which would not be related to the NPBL that the NBL had been inspired from, as well as ultimately lasted for only one season before being forced to close up operations early). As for every other surviving NBL team that made it to the NBA, they would all end up moving elsewhere at one point in time over the years, but would all still survive to the present day, with the NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers becoming the Los Angeles Lakers, the Rochester Royals becoming the Sacramento Kings, the Fort Wayne (Zollner) Pistons becoming the Detroit Pistons, the Syracuse Nationals becoming the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks becoming the Atlanta Hawks.

• Before the season began, the NBL would see the addition of the Flint Dow A.C.'s (who were originally the Midland Dow Chemicals works team for the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan from previous World Professional Basketball Tournament events that had meant to join the NBL in the previous season before officially joining under the new team name in Flint, Michigan for this season^[3]), though also see the Detroit Gems move from Detroit to Minneapolis to become the famous Minneapolis Lakers (later currently being the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA), as well as see the Youngstown Bears exit out of the NBL in a more graceful manner than the NBL's defending champions in the Chicago American Gears, who would leave the league following the announcement of the Indianapolis Kautskys' co-owner Paul A. Walk taking on the position of the NBL's president spot over Chicago's team owner Maurice White (who later had the Chicago American Gears compete in a very ambitious, yet extremely short-lived Professional Basketball League of America), resulting in the NBL only having eleven teams competing in their league this season.^[4] Supposedly, according to sports historian author Robert Bradley in The Compendium of Professional Basketball, there was initially going to be a team called the Chicago Ingots replacing the American Gears for this season, but that ultimately never came to fruition.^[5] Not only that, but the Los Angeles Red Devils were also in consideration to join up for NBL play as well, though they also were rejected in part due to how far apart they were to everyone else at the time.^[6] The Anderson Duffey Packers would also swap their division placement with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks due to the Blackhawks having a permanent stay in the "Tri-Cities" area of theirs in question that's mostly held in Illinois (with a hint of inclusion from the state of Iowa as well) for the rest of their NBL existence after previously playing their first 13 games of the previous season in Buffalo, New York as the Buffalo Bisons; that move would end up helping out both teams during their final two seasons of play in the NBL.
• When Maurice White and the defending NBL champion Chicago American Gears defected from the NBL to create their own professional basketball league of sorts in the Professional Basketball League of America, the NBL would revise its own schedule to accommodate the now-eleven teams in the league and draft up the Chicago American Gears players that would be available in case the new PBLA were to fail like they expect it to. While feelings were very strong that the new PBLA would self-destruct and that the NBL's owners would be able to reassign both Chicago American Gears players and other NBL players that chose to jump into the PBLA this season, the same NBL owners also decided to suspend any league jumpers from the NBL to the PBLA for five seasons, though they needed to clarify who had the rights to the various players in question in the first place.^[4]
• Sometime before the NBL began its regular season, the league would agree to further expand its number of games played for its season from 44 games played to 60 games played for this season. However, the Indianapolis Kautskys and Toledo Jeeps would end up cancelling a game near the end of the season without managing to find a way to reschedule it properly for what would have been their 60th and final games played in the NBL (for this season), meaning they both played this season out with 59 games played instead.
• After the PBLA started its regular season on October 25, 1947, it would fold operations three weeks later on November 13 due to that league filing for bankruptcy the previous day (following two PBLA matches played there, including one where the Chicago American Gears would have a perfect 8–0 record by that point in time) by filing losses of $600,000 in a time where the average household cost only $7,000. (At the time of the rivaling PBLA's implosion, the NBL's teams had played only five games for their season, with the Minneapolis Lakers having split their two regular season games played to start out their first season under the new Lakers name by that time.) As a result of the PBLA folding operations, the NBL held an emergency meeting on whether they should allow the defending NBL champion Chicago American Gears back into the NBL properly for their season again to have twelve teams back in the NBL again or not since there was rumored interest of the team returning to the NBL without team owner Maurice White being a part of said franchise. It was also rumored that at least one NBL team in the Minneapolis Lakers had considered reneging on their decision to leave the American Gears franchise out of the NBL entirely. Despite these rumors, however, the eleven remaining NBL teams unanimously voted against the American Gears franchise returning to the NBL once again on November 16 at the Morrison Hotel, thus permanently leaving the NBL with eleven teams for the NBL season this time around, as well as resulted in the NBL utilizing in a dispersal draft that saw the American Gears' players get dispersed out to various NBL teams, such as star center George Mikan going to the Minneapolis Lakers, guard/forward Price Brookfield going to the Anderson Duffey Packers, guard/forward Bruce Hale going to the Indianapolis Kautskys, and star guard/head coach Bobby McDermott going to the Sheboygan Red Skins (though he'd play with them for 16 games before leaving for the Tri-Cities Blackhawks instead due to issues in trying to get along with Doxie Moore^[7]).^[8] In addition to those key players, every NBL team outside of the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons would acquire at least one player from the Chicago American Gears' NBL championship roster or PBLA roster onto their team (though Fort Wayne would later acquire Dick Triptow onto their roster all the same on their ends from the Tri-Cities Blackhawks^[9]), with the newly established Flint Dow A.C.'s (formerly known as the Midland Dow Chemicals works team and later becoming the Midland Dow A.C.'s) picking up Bob Calihan, Billy Hassett returning to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (with Dick Triptow also joining him at the time), Fritz Nagy also going to the Indianapolis Kautskys, Les Rothman going to the Syracuse Nationals, George Ratkovicz joining the Rochester Royals, Stan Patrick going to the Toledo Jeeps, Max Morris also going to the Sheboygan Red Skins, and Bill McDonald going to the Oshkosh All-Stars, with Stan Szukala deciding to retire from play altogether and both Charles Molnor and Pete Fogo from the PBLA squad failing to play for another team going forward.^[10] Because of the sudden decision of the defending NBL champion Chicago American Gears ultimately leaving the more secure NBL to try (and fail) to create their own rivaling professional basketball league out of spite against the NBL itself, former Chicago player Dick Triptow later wrote that the dissolution of the American Gears franchise ultimately shifted not just the balance of power in the entire NBL (with the strong(er) NBL teams becoming even stronger and the weak(er) NBL teams becoming weaker following the dispersal draft^[11]), but also the entire sport of basketball for the rest of its existence going forward due to Chicago's championship roster consisting of not just two of what were considered some of the best basketball players of all-time at the time in center George Mikan and player-coach Bobby McDermott, but also eight different college All-American players and a high school phenom in George Ratkovicz.^[12]
• Interestingly, the Rochester Royals would be the last team to begin their regular season with the NBL properly on November 11 due to everyone else playing at least one game by this time since the Royals previously played a whole bunch of exhibition games against both NBL teams (including the new Flint Dow A.C.'s team) and rivaling BAA teams like the Philadelphia Warriors and the former American Basketball League team known as the Baltimore Bullets.^[13]
• Despite star center George Mikan expressing serious interest in not just leaving the basketball world by this time, but also wanting to stay in Chicago in order to complete his law studies following the Chicago American Gears' surprise folding, the Lakers' courtship for him would lead to Mikan signing a four-year deal on November 18 that was reported to be worth $15,000 (though Mikan would say it was actually worth $12,500 instead), which would be five times the average income of an American worker at the time.^[14] Mikan's first game with the Lakers would happen two days later in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, with him scoring 16 points in a 56–41 beatdown favoring the Sheboygan Red Skins due, in part, to Mikan and the rest of the Minneapolis Lakers teammates not quite getting used to each other.^[15]
• By that same period of time, on November 20, the eleven NBL teams would hold what could be considered 90% of the top professional basketball players of the United States of America at the time (with the talent level for the NBL this season being different from even this past season of play from the NBL, never mind their previous three seasons or previous five seasons in the NBL during the World War II era), while the rivaling BAA had Philadelphia Warriors forwards Joe Fulks and Howie Dallmar; former NBL turned Boston Celtics center Ed Sadowski; undrafted New York Knickerbockers guard Carl Braun; former NBL player turned Baltimore Bullets player/coach guard Buddy Jeannette; Chicago Stags shooting guard Max Zaslofsky; and former Oshkosh All-Stars turned Washington Capitols guard/forward Bob Feerick as the best crowd drawers for their own games this season, with not much else going on in their favor in terms of player promotion in their favor during that time.^[8] Not only that, but the NBL's original biggest rival for most of its existence, the American Basketball League, would be considered a minor basketball league similar to most other competing leagues by this point in time in all but name only from this point in time onward until it eventually went out of business as well.^[16][17][18]
• Starting with this season, scoring would accelerate to higher-scoring results than what had been displayed throughout most of the NBL's history, as results like a low-scoring 44–35 victory for the Tri-Cities Blackhawks on January 11, 1948, would be seen as less common this season than scores like a 82–69 victory for the Anderson Duffey Packers over the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons on November 20, 1947, would turn out to be for this season.^[19] In some aspects, the higher scoring results would relate to the improved talent entering the NBL even just one season ago, never mind three or even five seasons ago (or more than that), as players would start getting closer to the size equivalent necessary to the modern-day era of professional basketball. However, other factors that related to the higher scoring for this season over past seasons in the NBL included advancements with general equipment (including training equipment), better training facilities, better preparation for the professional game while in college (usually due to the NCAA), and, at least according to New York Knickerbockers head coach Joe Lapchick, the competition level was so intense that it was every man for himself, with team interest being subjugated to such tactics.^[20]
• By the end of November, the Anderson Duffey Packers would be leading the Eastern Division with an 8–1 record (having the best record by that time) over the two long-time Eastern Division leaders in the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons and Rochester Royals (who were both two games behind Anderson at the time), with the Syracuse Nationals, Toledo Jeeps, and Flint Dow A.C.'s all being below-average teams by this time (with Syracuse and Toledo being the two teams looking to compete for the final playoff spot for the Eastern Division, while the Dow A.C.'s ended up falling out into last place in their division early on despite their hopeful, optimistic look early on into the season (following a good preseason period) due to them going 1–8 and firing their head coach after the first two games of their season and them never learning how to win as a team with their losses often being close ones either, making the Dow A.C.'s become one of the worst teams in NBL history). Meanwhile, in the Western Division, all five of the Minneapolis Lakers, Indianapolis Kautskys, Oshkosh All-Stars, Sheboygan Red Skins, and Tri-Cities Blackhawks would end up being close to average at best by comparison, with the Lakers being considered the best team of the lot at the time with a 4–4 record (though they later became the worst team in their division instead by early December following two losses by the Flint Dow A.C.'s and the Toledo Jeeps continuing a four-game losing streak for their worst point in the season) and the All-Stars being considered the worst team in their division with a 5–7 record early on.^[21]
• By December 7, in terms of individual scoring, rookie John Hargis of the Anderson Duffey Packers was leading the NBL in scoring with 211 total points scored in 16 games played, with George Mikan of the Minneapolis Lakers being in second place despite playing in only 10 games at the time from his prior standing with the Chicago American Gears due to him averaging 20.4 points per game (not only tying a scoring average record that former teammate Bobby McDermott had in arguably his best scoring season with the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, but also nearly tying, if not breaking a record set by Mel Riebe from the Cleveland Allmen Transfers as well), Al Cervi of the Rochester Royals being third, Anderson Duffey Packers rookie Frank Brian being fourth, and the Rochester Royals' Bob Davies being fifth for the top five scoring leaders in that time. In a week's time from there, however, the standings would change to see George Mikan be in first place with a new and improved record-breaking scoring average of 20.7 points per game and then see Al Cervi in second place, with rookie John Hargis dropping to third place and Sheboygan Red Skins center rookie Mike Todorovich being the new fourth place guy in scoring instead.^[22]
• During the middle of December, Dick Triptow would be traded from the Tri-Cities Blackhawks to the Anderson Duffey Packers in a cash deal, with Triptow subsequently being traded to the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in exchange for power forward/center Milo Komenich, which "has the league wondering", according to Bill Carlson, who was working for the Minneapolis Star evening published newspapers at the time. The moves were considered intriguing to the NBL due to the fact that very few major moves actually transpired within the league's history; while other roster changes were common, most of them in the NBL's history just simply involved waiving players that were no longer needed and signing up players that teams felt like they did need by comparison.^[22]
• Around that same period of time, a popular NBL referee from Brooklyn named Phil Fox was rumored to be through with refereeing for the rest of the season due to him being set to travel to Palestine with a "hand-picked band" of fighters to join the Haganah while out there. However, it was later reported three weeks after the original report occurred that Phil Fox's trips to both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv had been sidetracked, meaning he was officially free to return to his refereeing gig with the NBL once again for this season going forward.^[22]
• By the end of the 1947 year, the Minneapolis Lakers held the best record in the Western Division with a 14–9 record, with the Sheboygan Red Skins being the only other Western Division team at that time to have an above-average record (though it's considered to be due to the help of player-coach Bobby McDermott, who would ultimately be bought out and leave the team during that month to join the Tri-Cities Blackhawks due to issues with team manager turned head coach Doxie Moore), while the Tri-Cities Blackhawks would be in third place with an 8–12 record under the ancient player-coach Nat Hickey (who by this point in time would almost be a month away from reaching his 46th birthday and would end up being waived/fired from his position (and later have two infamous games with the Providence Steamrollers to currently be named what's technically considered the oldest player to ever play in the NBA at 45 years, 363 days old) in order to be replaced with Bobby McDermott himself in that exact same position) and both the Oshkosh All-Stars and Indianapolis Kautskys (who finished the previous season as the best two teams in the Western Division) ended up tied with the worst record in that division by that point in time with an 11–19 from each team being in mind by early January being notably for them both due to the loss of key players from both squads in question (Eddie Riska and Ralph Vaughn for Oshkosh and Herm Schaefer and Ernie Andres for Indianapolis). As for the Eastern Division, Anderson would cool down just enough to have the Rochester Royals lead both the division and the NBL with 21–5 and the Anderson Duffey Packers get to second place with 20–7, with the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons being at a solid third place with a respectable 14–9 record (the same kind of record that the Minneapolis Lakers got), the Syracuse Nationals would hold the last playoff spot in the Eastern Division at the moment with a bad 10–16 record, the Toledo Jeeps would be fifth fighting on with an even worse 8–16 record, and the Flint Dow A.C.'s would be dead last in the league with a pitiful 4–24 record (including their December 2 win 75–68 win over the Lakers at home in Midland, Michigan).^[23]
• Entering 1948, it appeared that every spot in the Eastern Division outside of the final spot would (more or less) be set up properly (with the last spot looking to be a battle between the Syracuse Nationals and the Toledo Jeeps), while the Western Division only saw the Minneapolis Lakers (and maybe the Sheboygan Red Skins) as a surefire bet to make it to the NBL Playoffs by the end of the season since the rest of the division there was a free-for-all outside of the Lakers.^[24]
• By the time the initial NBL trade deadline of January 14, 1948 came and went, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons would be 1½ games behind the Rochester Royals (with three less wins than Rochester despite having the same amount of losses as the Royals) for the second place spot in their division (with the Anderson Duffey Packers reclaiming first place by a game or two themselves and the Syracuse Nationals getting a significant jump up from the Toledo Jeeps for the fourth and final playoff spot for the Eastern Division), while the Minneapolis Lakers' 23–12 record would have them be firmly ahead of the 16–16 based Oshkosh All-Stars and Tri-Cities Blackhawks (who would be tied for second place by then), with the Sheboygan Red Skins only being three games ahead of the Indianapolis Kautskys for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Western Division.^[25]
• At some point during the season (it's weirdly unknown as to when the specific point was for them to do exactly that in this particular case as of 2026, but it's suggested to be at around the halfway point of the regular season in January 1948), the Flint Dow A.C.'s would move their franchise (back) from Flint, Michigan to Midland, Michigan to reflect their original Midland Dow Chemicals works team name origins upon the Dow Chemical Company beginnings from their past few seasons of existence back when they originally began as an amateur team starting in 1942.^[26] As such, they would technically be referred to as the Midland Dow A.C.'s for the rest of their season by that currently unknown point in time. However, for simplicity's sake, future references of the Dow A.C.'s team will primarily mention them as the Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s unless stated otherwise.
• During that same general period of time (from December 18, 1947, until January 19, 1948), the Minneapolis Lakers would win 12 out of 15 games played (losing only on January 2 with a 46–41 home loss to the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, on January 11 with a 44–35 road loss to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, and on January 17 with a 71–65 road loss to the Syracuse Nationals), with George Mikan stretching out his points scoring total to more than 600 (which averaged out to 20.3 points per game) by the middle of January, which was more than 150 points better than his nearest rival, Don Otten, at 434 points (14 points per game) by that time. Mikan would also be helped out in scoring with fellow future Basketball Hall of Famer Jim Pollard, who himself would score 405 points (averaging 12.3 points per game) to be fifth place in points scored himself by that time. Finally, on January 18, in a game against the Rochester Royals, George Mikan would score an NBL record-high 41 points from an NBL record-high 17 made field goals (both of which were broken from records set by Bob Carpenter in 1946 and former teammate Bobby McDermott in 1945 respectively) in a close 75–73 Lakers victory over the Royals as Mikan would get closer to breaking the NBL's record for most points scored in a single season without even needing to go over the necessary 44 game barrier like the original record had done the previous season beforehand.^[27]
• In a controversial move, despite it being done a week after what was considered to be the NBL's official trade deadline, NBL commissioner Ward Lambert decided to allow for a trade to be made on January 21 between the Rochester Royals (who needed help finding a new center after letting go of George Glamack earlier on in the season) and the Indianapolis Kautskys that would send center Arnie Risen to the Royals for $25,000 in cash in order to help out Frank Kautsky and his Kautskys franchise since he noticed that his team was struggling to fill up the large Butler Fieldhouse when compared to previous seasons (likely due to the perception of them being a last place team in their division) and he and his team was losing money this season. The trade was met with major protest by Lakers general manager Max Winter (alongside ire from many other team owners in the NBL as well), but Lambert still approved of the deal, which led to calls for Ward's resignation to commence during this season. Even wilder still, the trade of Risen for $25,000 was done the day before the Lakers and Royals were prepared to play their NBL-BAA doubleheader match in Chicago, Illinois at the Chicago Stags' home venue, which hurt their chances behind the scenes (though it ultimately didn't matter by the time the game began since the Lakers would still win with a 69–64 victory due to Arnie Risen getting into foul trouble, Herm Schaefer being a stabilizing force for the Lakers, and George Mikan tying up the scoring record in the NBL that Al Cervi set the previous season with 632 overall points (in only 31 games played) with 23 points scored that night).^[28] In the Lakers' following game after the one they had against the Royals, George Mikan would officially break the NBL's scoring record for the season with 19 points scored in a 69–52 win over the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, with him being on pace to completely obliterate the NBL's scoring record for the following season to come (despite that season having more games to play than this season) as well.^[29]
• By the end of January, the Minneapolis Lakers would win their last 27 out of 33 games that they had played during this season, with one of the games played by the Lakers actually being aired over Minneapolis televisions, as noted by Elliot Cushing from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, funnily enough.^[30]
• One interesting poll that would be released during this same period of time involving most, if not all of the NBL's head coaches, noticed that there was an interesting disparity in regards to how long it would take to help develop a new professional player (i.e., a rookie player) into a "top-notch pro star", with three NBL coaches (Minneapolis' John Kundla, Sheboygan's Doxie Moore, and Indianapolis' player-coach Bruce Hale) believing you only need their rookie seasons to help develop them into top-notch pro stars, while two coaches in former American Basketball League star player turned Syracuse Nationals head coach Bennie Borgmann and Toledo Jeeps player-coach Jule Rivlin feel only two years were needed to make them become pro star players, with three other coaches (Anderson's Murray Mendenhall Sr., Fort Wayne's Carl Bennett, and Rochester's Les Bennett) believing three years should help do the trick in turning young rookies into top-notch pro stars, while only the Oshkosh All-Stars' head coach (and long-time member) Lon Darling believes that young rookie players need up to five years of development before they become proper, top-notch star players like what he would see from his own players. (Unfortunately, it's unknown whether Flint/Midland's head coach in Matt Zunic (representing the Dow A.C.'s) and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks' player-coach in Bobby McDermott had any answers that suggested they were in one of those same camps in question or if they were in a different camp altogether for whatever reason, though it's suggested that the majority of them say that they voted for three years as the main answer.)^[30]
• By the start of February, the Minneapolis Lakers would lead the Western Division with a 25–13 (later 26–13 record following an 85–55 blowout win over the Indianapolis Kautskys to start what would become an undefeated February in the NBL for them (though still calling for the ousting of Ward Lambert as NBL commissioner)), with them having a six-game lead over the second place Oshkosh All-Stars, a seven-game lead over the third place Tri-Cities Blackhawks, and an eight-game lead over the fourth place Sheboygan Red Skins (with the last place team in their division being the Indianapolis Kautskys looking to be the team on the outside looking in through the NBL's playoff window this time around), while the Eastern Division would see the Anderson Duffey Packers regain first place with a two-game lead over the Rochester Royals, with the Royals gaining more separation from the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in third place with them being 2½ games behind Rochester and 4½ games behind Anderson (who would see significant improvement following the start of the season, especially at home in the North Side High School Gym, where they went undefeated there with 17 straight home victories from December 14, 1947, until February 19, 1948, between the raucous crowds and the weirdly shorter than expected home court by comparison to any other home court in the NBL), followed by the Syracuse Nationals being in fourth place there with a highly detrimental 13 game fallback against the Duffey Packers (and an awful 8½ games behind Fort Wayne), then the Toledo Jeeps barely behind Syracuse in fifth place with them being 1½ games behind the Nationals, 10 games behind the Zollner Pistons, and 14½ games behind Anderson, with the Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s being dead last in the league.^[31]
• By the middle of February, the top five scoring players in the NBL would be George Mikan of the Minneapolis Lakers with 764 points scored (for a 20.1 points per game average) in 38 games played, Don Otten of the Tri-Cities Blackhawks with 578 points scored (for a 13.8 points per game average) in 42 games played, Hal Tidrick of the Toledo Jeeps with 548 points scored (for a 13.2 points per game average), former Indianapolis Kautskys turned Rochester Royals center Arnie Risen with 547 points scored (who had a 13.7 points per game average), and Bob Calihan of the Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s with 530 points scored (with the second-highest scoring average with 13.9 points per game for the Dow A.C.'s).^[20]
• After winning their February 17 game against the Indianapolis Kautskys, the Minneapolis Lakers would get in contact with the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters team (or rather, teams, since the Globetrotters would trot out an East team and a West team for the respective regions) owned by Abe Saperstein (who were on a 93-game winning streak at the time (albeit with a lot of patsy teams in mind, though they would not being rigged competitions at all)) to compete in a two-game exhibition series, with the first game being in the Chicago Stadium on February 19, 1948, and the second game being planned to be held at the Minneapolis Auditorium for the following season afterward at a later date (it was later announced to be held on February 28, 1949 (under the BAA), with it also being in the Chicago Stadium, though subsequent matches between the two teams would later be held in both the Municipal Auditorium in Minneapolis and the Chicago Stadium from March 14, 1949 (under the BAA) until January 2, 1952 (under the NBA), with one last match between them occurring by January 3, 1958 (under the NBA) in Chicago nearly a decade after the first match of theirs began^[32]). The best players from the East and West squads of the Globetrotters (which included not just younger players like Ermer Robinson, Marques Haynes, and Goose Tatum, but also a couple of the 1940 World Professional Basketball Tournament's championship squad members in Babe Pressley and Ted Strong (who had also played professional baseball out in the Negro Leagues in his spare time back when baseball was still segregated) as well) would be combined into one team for this specific match, as the 1948 Globetrotters–Lakers exhibition match would be played for the pride of the players more than anything else as the first half of a doubleheader series that included a BAA match between the New York Knickerbockers and the Chicago Stags as the second match of the night. Despite the Lakers being up 32–23 at halftime, some crafty fouling strategies by the Globetrotters would help Harlem catch up and later win the game for them with a closing, buzzer-beating shot by Ermer Robinson (which was met with some controversy on the Lakers' end due to the noise of the crowd obscuring the gunshot for the buzzer and the last shot potentially being too late to count properly). When it was later discovered that both of the referees of the match were supplied by Abe Saperstein himself, the Lakers made sure that future rematches had both teams covering the referees with one representing each side properly, leading to Harlem winning their second match before the Lakers won every other match afterward going forward. While this specific match didn't gain much coverage at first (outside of the best coverage coming on February 28 from The Chicago Defender, an African-American newspaper) due in part to newspapers noting that all-black teams like the Globetrotters and the New York Renaissance had already played against NBL teams in typical exhibition games since the 1930s beforehand (even beyond the World Professional Basketball Tournament), it retroactively not only showcased the first steps towards not just ending segregation within basketball for both the NBL and its future successor in the NBA, but also for allowing African-American players to return to play upon the basketball court within future seasons as well.^[33]
• From February 17 to March 7, the Rochester Royals would complete a nine-game winning streak that had most of their key players getting healthy just in time on their ends for the streak to commence (which also was a key streak for them to gain the Eastern Division lead over the Anderson Duffey Packers) before they ended up losing to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks on March 9. Interestingly, their final win on March 7 had an odd story where both the Royals and their opposing team in question, the Indianapolis Kautskys, were both wearing their road blue uniforms due to them playing in the Chicago Stadium as a part of the scheduled NBL-BAA doubleheader that was planned out for the season, yet the Royals were the team that was designated to be the home team that night and they had forgotten to bring their home uniforms with them from their overnight train trip from Rochester to Chicago, meaning the home uniforms they had to wear that night would have to come designated from the Chicago Stags themselves that night instead. (Funnily enough, not only would the Royals beat the Kautskys 61–46 that night (despite the Kautskys being well-rested by comparison to the Royals since Indianapolis last played on March 2 after upsetting the Lakers that night with an 83–63 victory to end Minneapolis' month-long, 12-game winning streak), but the Stags would also beat their own opponents in the Providence Steamrollers (who still hold the worst winning percentage in BAA/NBA history as of 2026) not long afterward with an 89–81 final score as well.)^[34]
• On February 29, in what would become the Lakers' final game played in Chicago under the scheduled NBL-BAA doubleheader series for the season, the city would celebrate what was known as "George Mikan Day", with the city of Chicago presenting him with numerous gifts, including a new 1948 Chrysler automobile. While the Lakers would complete the month undefeated (at least against other NBL teams) with a 66–56 victory over the Syracuse Nationals, it would be Jim Pollard leading the scoring for the Lakers for a change of pace with 16 points while George Mikan had 14 points, with Syracuse having Jim Homer scoring 18 points and 19-year-old guard Paul Seymour scoring 14 points as the leaders for the Nationals that night.^[29]
• By the end of February, despite the Lakers finishing the month of February with an undefeated record against NBL teams there (and by extension, all but running away with the best record in the Western Division by this point in time over every other team there with a 37–13 record), the three best Eastern Division teams would all be really close to each other in order for it to be anyone's division by the end of the season, as both the Anderson Duffey Packers and Rochester Royals tied their division up with a 36–14 record while the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons would be only two games behind them both with two less wins than them both with a 34–14 record.^[20]
• Throughout the month of February, George Mikan would not just break the 700 point barrier, but also the 800 point barrier and the 900 point barrier as well.^[29]
• On March 7, in a close 68–67 win over the Sheboygan Red Skins, George Mikan would be the first and only player in NBL history to break through the 1,000 point barrier by scoring 38 points that night. The next day after that, in a rematch against Sheboygan, Mikan would score 31 points in a 65–55 victory over the Red Skins franchise for 1,039 total points scored, with Mikan's closest competitor in the total points scored tally for this season, Don Otten, being 300 points behind him with 739 points scored on his end. Then, on March 13, Mikan would record a new league record for the most points scored in one game with 42 points scored in a 92–64 victory over the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons.^[29]
• By the end of the season, George Mikan would set an unbeatable NBL record in terms of points scored in a season with 1,195 total points scored with an average of 21.3 points per game set throughout the season, with the latter record being set by Mel Riebe back in 1945 under some direct competition with Bobby McDermott.^[29]
• In terms of regular season finales, the Eastern Division would showcase more of a fight for the final playoff spots than the Western Division did during this season. The Eastern Division saw the Rochester Royals and the Anderson Duffey Packers get into a back-and-forth to see who would be the best team in their division before it was ultimately decided that Rochester would claim not just the best record in their division, but also the best overall record in the league as well with a 44–16 record, while Anderson would be two games behind them for second place, with the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons being four games behind Rochester for third place and the Syracuse Nationals (despite having a bad, losing record this season) taking the fourth and final playoff spot ahead of the Toledo Jeeps by 1½ games (with the Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s never even standing a chance at the end by being dead last with a poor 8–52 record, barely being above the Detroit Gems' 4–40 record from the previous season). As for the Western Division, the Minneapolis Lakers would easily showcase themselves to be the best team in their division by the middle of February, with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks being the only other team in their division to showcase even an average record of 30–30 otherwise this season, while the Oshkosh All-Stars would not be too far behind the Blackhawks for third place with just one game separating the two and the Indianapolis Kautskys surprisingly taking the last playoff spot over the Sheboygan Red Skins by 1½ games despite losing center Arnie Risen to the Rochester Royals.^[35]
• Despite only having eleven total teams for this season instead of twelve teams like their previous season, the NBL would still utilize their expanded playoff format for this season, meaning any team that wants to be crowned the champions of the NBL this season needs to first win what would be deemed the divisional semifinal round in a best of five series first before going up into a divisional final round for would be a best of three series there before seeing the two winning teams from each division go head to head in the championship round in what would be a best of five series once again. This season also marked the second time the NBL Playoffs would compete directly against the BAA Playoffs as well, though unlike the inaugural BAA Playoffs, they would not have to worry about any direct competition from the BAA whatsoever this time around.
• During these competitive playoffs, the NBL would announce the award winners for Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie Teams, Coach of the Year, All-NBL Teams, and the NBL's MVP of the Year, with some awards and honors being more obvious to spot than others.^[36]
• In a critical Game 3 during the Eastern Division Finals between the Rochester Royals and the Anderson Duffey Packers (which saw Rochester win 74–58 to enter their third straight NBL championship match-up in a row during just as many seasons of play), Howie Schultz would spin and dip his shoulder into center Arnie Risen's jaw, accidentally cracking it and breaking it in two places (later being discovered to have three other small fractures discovered within his jaw that related to that incident), which would critically cause a key player for the Royals this season to be lost for their championship series.^[37]
• Interestingly, for the second (and final) time in a row, the NBL Playoffs would not conclude in a timely manner for the World Professional Basketball Tournament to begin its play properly. Instead, for a weird change of pace (at least in terms of the NBL's own standards), the NBL would decide to delay the play of the NBL's championship series between the best two teams of the league (which were the Rochester Royals and the Minneapolis Lakers) in order to have a small WPBT-like event take place for five of the NBL's teams to compete against the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the original rivaling American Basketball League and two independently-ran basketball teams in the all-black New York Renaissance (who were the inaugural champions of the WPBT) and the Bridgeport Newfield Steelers to see who would be the best team remaining in the winner takes all 1948 World Professional Basketball Tournament. However, this delay from finishing the NBL Playoffs properly actually brought about criticisms on NBL commissioner Ward Lambert through the people in Rochester this time around instead of the people in Minneapolis since the NBL championship series was being delayed by what the city had considered to be a "psuedo-World Tournament" and that Lambert, "who is paid $10,000 a year as Commissioner, regards the synthetic affair as more important than the deciding of the championship of his own league."^[38]
• Before beginning the actual WPBT for what would later turn out to be the final time, the NBL would actually host an impromptu meeting at its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois (which also hosted the WPBT event in the first place), which talked about the rumors of not only four different franchises leaving the NBL for the newly-rivaling BAA, but the NBL also granting new franchises with cases made for seven different locations in mind regarding Denver, Colorado; Des Moines, Iowa; Chicago, Illinois (again, for the fourth time in a row after the Bruins, Studebaker Flyers, and recent American Gears all failed for different reasons (fifth if you include the Chicago Duffy Florals in the Midwest Basketball Conference)); Louisville, Kentucky; Dayton, Ohio (again after previously having the Dayton Metropolitans(/London Bobbys) failing as a team early on); Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; and St. Paul, Minnesota of all places being interested in pitching their bids to the NBL to fielding a team to join their league for the new season coming up.^[38] In addition to potential new teams joining the league alongside potentially losing some of their teams to their newer rivaling BAA, the Minneapolis Star also reported that two names have been floating about as potential replacements for Ward Lambert, with Lambert effectively resigning from his position as soon as the NBL's championship series was over and done with this season, with the two names in mind as his replacement being the Sheboygan Red Skins' head coach and general manager in Doxie Moore and a director of competitive athletics from the University of Minnesota named Chet Roan, with Roan appearing to be more likely than Moore at that point in time due to Moore appearing to be viewed as very unfavorable to people not just in Sheboygan, but also within multiple (i.e. two) other cities that had NBL teams (though those cities were never officially specified for the public's knowledge).^[39][40] While the NBL also saw rumors of four of their teams leaving the NBL for the BAA (with two of their teams in question being their biggest draws for their past and current history), the Minneapolis Star also warned that while the teams in question may want to be in a big name city league with places like New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Chicago, such a move by them could potentially "ruin the league" and suggested that it'd be wiser to have both the NBL and the BAA talk about a merger between the two leagues go through first instead.^[41]
• For what would turn out to be the final World Professional Basketball Tournament ever held, the 1948 event would be a three-day event that would last for only three rounds (with the loser's semifinal round being the third place consolation prize round and the winner's semifinal round being the championship round) instead of the usual four rounds like in previous tournaments with only eight teams competing for the smallest tournament around. For the NBL teams involved, the league would see its representation coming from the new defending WPBT champion Indianapolis Kautskys, the three-time WPBT champion Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, the Anderson Duffey Packers, the Minneapolis Lakers, and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, meaning that not only would this be the first (and only) time that the Oshkosh All-Stars would not participate in the WPBT after previously doing so since its very inception, but it'd be all but guaranteed that at least one NBL team would be eliminated from this tournament in the first round this year. In the quarterfinal round on April 8, two of the NBL's teams would be eliminated early on with both of Indiana's team representatives in the Indianapolis Kautskys and the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons being eliminated in the first round by two of the other NBL teams competing in the event, while the Minneapolis Lakers got an easy first round match with crushing the American Basketball League's Wilkes-Barre Barons. During the semifinal round on April 9, however, only the Lakers would survive into the championship round, as not only would they be forced to defeat an NBL opponent in the Anderson Duffey Packers (who previously beat the previous year's WPBT champions in the Indianapolis Kautskys), but the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (who previously upset the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in the first round) would be bested by the all-black New York Renaissance (who not only were the very first champions in the WPBT's history, but also previously beat the also independently-ran Bridgeport Newfield Steelers in the quarterfinal round) to see an old vs. new finale of sorts for the championship round. For the final day of the tournament on April 11, Anderson would crush the Tri-Cities in the second half to win 66–44, while Minneapolis would barely survive against the Renaissance despite George Mikan's 40 points, as the Lakers would win the final WPBT ever held with a 75–71 final score, with George Mikan getting his second WPBT MVP award in three years.^[42]
• Instead of participating in the 1948 World Professional Basketball Tournament to have what would turn out to be one last shot at redemption there after two failed stints in previous WPBT events while playing under their previous Rochester Seagrams name, the Rochester Royals would decide to play a two-game exhibition set dubbed the "Royal Appreciation Games" against what could be considered to be an NBL All-Star Team that included players like Gene Englund of the Oshkosh All-Stars, Leo Klier and Bruce Hale of the Indianapolis Kautskys, Mike Novak and Jerry Rizzo of the Syracuse Nationals, Hal Tidrick and Fran Curran of the Toledo Jeeps, and Bob Calihan and Stan Patrick of the Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s. For the two "Royal Appreciation Games" played this season in Rochester, the Royals would actually win both of the games they had over the NBL's All-Star Team roster that they got for this season, with the April 10 game having Rochester winning by a 72–61 score and the second game a day later ending with the Royals winning with a 74–64 score instead.^[41]
• With a 3–1 NBL championship series victory for the Lakers concluded on April 16, the Minneapolis Lakers would become the third (technically fourth) and final team in NBL history to win dual championships for both the NBL and the WPBT during the same season of play, as they would join both the Oshkosh All-Stars during their 1941–42 season and the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in both their 1943–44 and 1944–45 seasons to achieve that same honor.^[43][44]
• While the season was officially over with by April 16, 1948, continued uncertainly revolving around four certain teams trying to jump ship from the NBL to the newer, rivaling BAA alongside planned new additions to their league for the upcoming season and the feared possibility of their own league collapsing in on itself due to the fierce competition that the BAA would cause upon itself led to the team owners from the NBL and the BAA meeting up at the Morrison Hotel in Chicago (albeit separately) to discuss plans for their following seasons. During that time, the NBL would announce a new franchise would be added to the city of Detroit, Michigan (which would later be named the Detroit Vagabond Kings) and that a resolution was passed by every NBL team (including the team owners for Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Rochester) that stated where any team that left their league without stated permission from the NBL themselves would have their players become league property and that the NBL would seek injunctions against their players, claiming ownership of their contracts along the way. Despite the seriousness of the NBL's tone, the BAA felt indifferent about it, with a spokesman from Indianapolis saying "They may not be in business long enough to worry about next season."^[45]
• By May 10, the NBL would replace NBL commissioner Ward Lambert with Sheboygan Red Skins head coach and general manager Doxie Moore (with Leo Ferris from the Tri-Cities Blackhawks replacing Paul A. Walk from the Indianapolis Kautskys as the president of the NBL and Carl Bennett now being named a part of the BAA Executive Committee), but the NBL would lose four of their most important teams to the rivaling BAA in the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (who would be planned on being renamed to just the Fort Wayne Pistons due to the BAA not allowing for brands to be a part of team names like the NBL has done), the Indianapolis Kautskys (who also needed to be renamed entirely once entering the BAA since Kautskys is a brand name for Kautsky's (local) grocery store), the NBL's newest champion team in the Minneapolis Lakers (who don't need to be renamed whatsoever), and the Rochester Royals (who also didn't need to be renamed whatsoever, but were a later addition for the BAA after originally wanting the previous three teams to join them).^[45]

Due to the previous season's expansion on teams added (despite them losing a team during this season), the NBL would continue utilizing their expanded playoff formatting for what would later become its penultimate season of existence by first having a divisional opening round with the four best teams in each division competing against each other in a best of five series before the two remaining teams that would be considered the best of each division would compete in what's now called the "Division Semifinals" round in what's weirdly considered a best of three series this time around before the final two teams that would be considered the best from both divisions would compete against each other in a best of five championship series once again. In the opening round, the Eastern Division saw the Rochester Royals once again beat the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons works team 3–1 and the Anderson Duffey Packers works team crush the Syracuse Nationals in a 3–0 sweep, while the Western Division saw the recently rebranded Minneapolis Lakers defeat the Oshkosh All-Stars 3–1 and the newer Tri-Cities Blackhawks defeat the Indianapolis Kautskys in their own 3–1 series victory in order to set up the divisional semifinal rounds. Entering those next rounds, the Rochester Royals would barely defeat the Anderson Duffey Packers works team in a closer 2–1 series victory, while the Minneapolis Lakers would crush the Tri-Cities Blackhawks with a 2–0 sweep for their shot at the NBL Championship. For the championship series, the Minneapolis Lakers (being led by future Hall of Fame center George Mikan) would defeat the Rochester Royals 3–1 to win their first (and only) NBL championship in franchise history; following this season's end, the new NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers would be joined by the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (who would remove the Zollner part of the team name soon afterward to become the Fort Wayne Pistons going forward in their post-NBL era up until they later moved to Detroit, Michigan to become the Detroit Pistons), the Indianapolis Kautskys (who later folded operations after one season of play under their new Indianapolis Jets name), and the Rochester Royals (who currently go by the Sacramento Kings in the present day) as the four NBL teams to defect from the NBL to the younger Basketball Association of America, with the Lakers easily having the most prestigious history of every NBL team around both in their time spent in Minneapolis, Minnesota and their present-day time in Los Angeles, California as the Los Angeles Lakers.

Note: Prior to the 1969–70 NBA season, league leaders in points were determined by totals rather than averages. Also, rebounding and assist numbers were not recorded properly in the NBL like they would be in the BAA/NBA, as would field goal and free-throw shooting percentages. George Mikan would also be the only player in NBL history to score over 1,000 points in one NBL season before leaving the league to join the BAA (later known as the NBA by the end of the following season).

• NBL Most Valuable Player: George Mikan, Minneapolis Lakers
• NBL Coach of the Year: Murray Mendenhall, Anderson Duffey Packers
• NBL Rookie of the Year: Mike Todorovich, Sheboygan Red Skins

^[66]

For the tenth and final World Professional Basketball Tournament ever hosted, it would primarily feature teams from the NBL this time around, as five of the now eight teams there would participate in this condensed tournament that would last in Chicago from April 8–11, 1948, with the only other competition involved this time around being the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the original rivaling American Basketball League (which competed against the Minneapolis Lakers in the first round) and two independently ran teams in the New York Renaissance and the Bridgeport Newfield Steelers, who each went up against each other in the first round. For the NBL teams in the first round, the Lakers would blow out the ABL's Barons with a game-high 98–48 blowout victory, while the Tri-Cities Blackhawks would upset the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons with a 57–50 victory and the defending WPBT champion Indianapolis Kautskys would be upset by the Anderson Duffey Packers with a 59–53 defeat. In the semifinal round hosted a day later, the Lakers would defeat the Duffey Packers with a close 59–55 victory, while the Blackhawks were edged out by the all-black New York Renaissance in a close 59–56 defeat, leading to the Lakers and the Renaissance (the very first WPBT champions) competing against each other for the final WPBT championship ever held, while the Duffey Packers and the Blackhawks went against each other for the final third-place finish in WPBT history. On April 11, the Duffey Packers would blowout the Blackhawks with a 66–44 victory, while the Lakers would win the final WPBT match ever held with a close 75–71 victory over the Renaissance, thus making the Minneapolis Lakers become the final NBL team to win back-to-back championships in the same season after the Oshkosh All-Stars (who weirdly declined to participate this year) won it all in 1942 and the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons won both championships in both 1944 and 1945. Not only that, but George Mikan would be named the MVP of the event for the second time in three years, with him joining Buddy Jeannette as the only other player to be named the WPBT MVP in two different years. However, it's been slated that had the New York Renaissance won the 1948 WPBT instead of the Lakers, they could have not only had greater leverage in not just negotiating with the NBL for the upcoming season by being a proper NBL team on their own merits instead of being a last minute replacement team for a squad that folded during that particular season (to the point where they played home games in Dayton, Ohio as the Dayton Rens instead), but also potentially played in the NBA once that had been created by August 3, 1949, instead of being one of three NBL teams (one of five overall teams) to fold operations.^[67]

When the NBL started the previous season out with a mutual agreement with most other leagues to not infringe against each other,^[68] it would end with them withdrawing entirely from it due in part to a new rivaling league, the Basketball Association of America, ignoring it completely themselves.^[69] However, the offseason period would see the two leagues look to get the first signs of cooperation with each other due to them looking to have a cooperative draft system in mind between the two leagues (which was set to have occurred at the time of the 1947 BAA draft at The Leland Hotel since the 1947 NBL draft was supposed to have occurred not too long afterward^[70]), a prohibition from raiding players from the other league's team rosters, possible doubleheaders with the NBL and BAA playing teams in their own leagues at a common site and time, and even potentially having a "championship series" of sorts between the two leagues similar to the World Series with Major League Baseball between the National League and the American League (which, had it occurred, would have featured the Minneapolis Lakers on the NBL's side of things and the former American Basketball League team known as the Baltimore Bullets (with the latter team previously having a 34–3 regular season in the ABL) for the BAA's side of things competing to see who the best of the two champions truly were there).^[4] Following the Chicago American Gears' permanent removal from the NBL after they created their own short-lived rivaling basketball league, the NBL and BAA would allow for doubleheader matches in the same venue to go down this season at the Chicago Stadium (home of the BAA's Chicago Stags) with a match involving the NBL first and then the BAA second for 22 doubleheader matches occurring from November 15, 1947, until the end of the season.^[71] Not only would it look to be beneficial for both leagues this season,^[8] but it also looked to be solid first steps for a long-term cooperative friendship between the two leagues.

However, the friendship would not last by the end of the season, as the NBL had gained information that four of their own teams could potentially leave the NBL for the newer BAA instead, either to get a stronger sense of long-term survival from within or to actually get more visible crowds in mind for future matches (or both in the case of the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons). While it was rumored that two of the teams involved with the potential move involved the Minneapolis Lakers and the aforementioned Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons during the 1948 World Professional Basketball Tournament period, the Minneapolis Star suggested to have a merger go through between the two leagues first instead before both leagues end up being in financial ruin.^[41] By the season's end on April 16, 1948, both leagues would meet up at the Morrison Hotel in Chicago (albeit separately) to discuss plans for their following seasons, with a resolution being passed by every NBL team (including the team owners for Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Rochester) that stated where any team that left their league without stated permission from the NBL themselves would have their players become league property and that the NBL would seek injunctions against their players, claiming ownership of their contracts along the way, which came after the NBL announced they would add a new franchise in their league from the city of Detroit, Michigan (which would later be named the Detroit Vagabond Kings).^[45] However, some time during the spring of 1948 (presumably on May 9), BAA commissioner Maurice Podoloff met up with Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons head coach and general manager Carl Bennett's home in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with Podoloff suggesting to have three teams in the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (who would be planned on being renamed to just the Fort Wayne Pistons due to the BAA not allowing for brands to be a part of team names like the NBL has done), the Indianapolis Kautskys (who also need to be renamed entirely once entering the BAA since Kautskys is a brand name for Kautsky's (local) grocery store), and the NBL's newest champion team in the Minneapolis Lakers (who don't need to be renamed whatsoever) all moving from the NBL to the BAA, with Fort Wayne's team owner, Fred Zollner, approving of the idea the following day (though with the later addition of the runner-up Rochester Royals joining up with the other three teams as well; while the Oshkosh All-Stars and Toledo Jeeps were also have suggested to join up alongside those four as well, those two were ultimately rejected by the BAA by comparison to the other four teams at hand^[72]), with the considered approval from the NBL making the transition of those four teams jumping from the NBL to the BAA being made official on May 10 through new NBL commissioner Doxie Moore.^[45]

By July 1948, the NBL started to threaten both legal action and a bidding war on players coming directly out of college, especially following the 1948 BAA draft period (which was originally meant to be a coincided 1948 BAA/NBL draft at the time before the NBL lost four of its teams to the BAA). Originally, all three of Ike W. Duffey from the NBL's, Carl Bennett, and Maurice Podoloff from the BAA's side had attempted to seek some sort of reconciliation; while the tone set at first was cordial between them all, no progress was ultimately made from it. In fact, by the end of the meeting, Duffey wrote a telegraph message that he intended to send to the other NBL owners that said no progress was possible and that NBL owners should feel free to raid BAA teams for their players, which would be a declaration of war between the two leagues since the BAA would inform its owners that they had the same latitude as well. Attempts at reconciliation were tried a second time a month later in August, but that second try would also be unsuccessful, and by that point, the NBL would just be focused on trying its hand at successfully completing its 1948–49 season as best as they possibly could do so.^[73]

• National Basketball League (United States)
• 1947–48 BAA season, the rivaling season of what would eventually be their merging partner to form the National Basketball Association in the younger Basketball Association of America
• Professional Basketball League of America, a short-lived season the Chicago American Gears had

• NBL Standings, 1937–1949 on apbr.org
• National Basketball League III – 1947–48 NBL Season Overview on retroseasons.com