1939–40 National Basketball League (United States) season

The 1939–40 NBL season was the fifth overall season for the U.S.A.'s National Basketball League (NBL) and its third 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. Similar to the previous NBL season, only eight teams would compete against each other in the third season of the NBL's existence under that name, though this season would see a new team joining the league in the former American Basketball League team called the Chicago Bruins replacing the likes of the Pittsburgh Pirates NBL team. This led to there being a total of four teams competing in both the Eastern and Western Divisions this season, with each team playing a total of either 27 or 28 scheduled NBL games played this season. The 1940 NBL Playoffs saw the return of the two best teams from each division competing against each other (which pretty much came down to the wire near the regular season's end) before the two best, winning teams competed against each other for a chance at winning the NBL Championship, which was a format that was suspiciously removed from the NBL the previous season. As a result, the 1940 NBL Playoffs ended with the Akron Firestone Non-Skids repeating as NBL champions over the Oshkosh All-Stars, with Akron repeating as champions by winning this series three games to two, similar to their first championship series they won the previous season. 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]

Following its 12th season of existence as the NBL, the NBL and Basketball Association of America (the latter league not existing until 1946) 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.

Of the eight NBL teams that competed in the league this season, only two of these teams in the Indianapolis Kautskys and Sheboygan Red Skins would end up playing in what can be considered the modern-day NBA. Even then, Indianapolis would only play for the 1948–49 BAA season as the Indianapolis Jets before folding operations before the NBL and BAA merged operations to become the NBA, while Sheboygan would only play for the 1949–50 NBA season before leaving the NBA to create their own rivaling professional basketball league 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). While the Oshkosh All-Stars were also considered for the NBL-BAA merger that became the modern-day NBA, no other NBL team from this season would end up joining the NBA once the two leagues merged.

• During the offseason period in April 1939, the Oshkosh All-Stars would sell shares of stock valued at $25 each to help raise $10,000 for the team since they had brought back a net loss in profits with them needing $1,755 per month for $7,020 being paid out to the NBL for their season, alongside their total expenses being worth $15,983 and their receipts being $15,265 for what could have been potential revenue coming back to the team. Due to the loss in profits from the previous season, the All-Stars franchise felt it was necessary to sell shares of the team to other citizens in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in order to gain any sort of revenue to make up for lost value in the previous season of play.^[2]
• Also during the offseason period, the Pittsburgh Pirates NBL team would leave the league while the former original American Basketball League team known as the Chicago Bruins (who previously participated in the inaugural WPBT event as the Chicago Harmons) would enter the NBL instead as a replacement team for the season, with the moving of the Cleveland White Horses (who originally started out the previous season as the Warren Penns in the small city of Warren, Pennsylvania before moving to Cleveland, Ohio to become the Cleveland White Horses on February 10, 1939 due to the team finding a new sponsor to promote the team in White Horse Motors) to Detroit, Michigan to become the Detroit Eagles not only causing the NBL to keep the number of teams for the season to a total of eight teams (with four teams still representing the Eastern Division and Western Division respectively), but also resulted in the Indianapolis Kautskys becoming an Eastern Division team for the rest of this season.
• Due to the perceived increase in quality play for the NBL this season, teams like the Chicago Bruins and Detroit Eagles, alongside most other NBL teams, would become more aggressive (and by extension, become more successful) in landing star college basketball players to lead their NBL teams to success for this season.^[3]
• Before the season officially began, half of the NBL's teams for this season (the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots, the Indianapolis Kautskys, the Oshkosh All-Stars, and the Sheboygan Red Skins) would announce coaching changes for their seasons, with Oshkosh's new head coach, Lon Darling also being named the NBL President for the second straight season in a row.^[4][2]
• Also before the season began, the NBL agreed to a full 28 game schedule (where each team would play two home and two away games for a total of four times each), which every team would try to properly complete for the first time in league history after previously having a mixed amount of games for the two MBC seasons and the first NBL season, as well as being forced to nix an originally planned 28 game schedule to have only most teams playing 28 games with a few teams playing 27 games and one team in the Indianapolis Kautskys playing 26 games instead.^[5] However, the attempt for every NBL team to play a full 28 game season ultimately failed, as while teams managed to succeed in reaching that mark, both the Akron Firestone Non-Skids and the Detroit Eagles would manage to play 27 games for their season instead of the planned 28 games they had in mind, though it's suggested that the last game the two teams played against each other in the regular season was also the first playoff game those two teams had against each other as well instead of just having be missed entirely.^[6]
• With coverage from The Chicago Tribune covering Chicago Bruins games as the local home team for the NBL this season (who last covered professional basketball back when the Bruins were originally a part of the original American Basketball League), the coverage starting from their first game in the NBL (which was a low-scoring 28–19 win over the Oshkosh All-Stars) would help further increase both the NBL and professional basketball's reputation as a whole since the reporting mentioned that "pro basketball is now as collegiate as professional football" since the sport previously had college basketball as the highest level of respectable play for the sport before that point in time due to professional basketball being more rough in nature at the time.^[7] Interestingly enough, despite the Bruins playing the former MBC champion Chicago Duffy Florals, the local newspaper either forgot about the Duffy Florals' inaugural MBC season championship that they had won or did not think of the MBC predecessor league to the NBL as an actual professional basketball league at the time, judging from a December 6, 1940 article that had talked about the Bruins playing against the Duffy Florals.^[8]
• This season would officially be the last season where the creator of the sport, James Naismith, would be alive for at least part of the NBL's season of play, as Dr. Naismith would end up passing away on November 28, 1939, only days after the NBL's season officially began properly.
• Early on in the season, both the Chicago Bruins and Detroit Eagles were leading their respective divisions with a 3–0 and 5–0 record respectively, while the Akron Firestone Non-Skids had a poor start to their season by losing games against Indianapolis, Sheboygan, Hammond, and Chicago to start their season out as defending NBL champions. However, the standings by the start of 1941 had the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots barely leading the Eastern Division over the Detroit Eagles and the Chicago Bruins barely above the Sheboygan Red Skins in the Western Division, while the two best teams from the previous season in the Akron Firestone Non-Skids and the Oshkosh All-Stars were in third place (with Oshkosh having a losing record) and the two teams in Indiana being in last place.^[9]
• One of the lowest-scoring NBL matches in league history would occur on January 7, 1941 when the Sheboygan Red Skins barely beat out the Chicago Bruins 20–19 in what was considered at the time to be "the wildest contest Bruin fans have witnessed all season, each unsuccessful attempt at a field goal culminating in a football pileup" [sic] and that it "proved quite pleasing to the 2,500 fans who attended" in accordance to future Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winner Charles L. Bartlett from the Chicago Tribune. Despite the notion that it pleased the fans that saw this match, it was still considered a horrid match that was played upon retrospect due to both teams shooting poorly all game long (with Sheboygan going 1/30 in shooting in the first half and Chicago not even being able to score anything in the final 15 minutes of the game), to the point where free-throws decided the match with the Red Skins going 8/12 for free-throws and the Bruins only making a total of 3/15 there. The poor free-throw shooting Chicago had would later become a detrimental downfall for their first NBL season after previously leading the Western Division earlier in the season.^[10]
• By February 5, the standings saw Chicago barely beating out both Sheboygan and Oshkosh with the Bruins' 10–7 barely beating out the Red Skins' 12–9 record and the All-Stars' 12–11, while the Detroit Eagles looked to be significantly ahead of the two Akron works teams due to the Eagles' 14–7 record overcoming both the defending NBL champion Akron Firestone Non-Skids' 10–7 record and the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots' 10–11, who notably had four more games played than their inner city rivals involved with Firestone.^[11] However, both divisions would see significant changes occur by the end of the season to have long-term playoff implications be confirmed there.
• Near the end of the season, the Detroit Eagles and Chicago Bruins would lose the standings they had held throughout most of this season, with Detroit losing matches to the Hammond Ciesar All-Americans and Akron Firestone Non-Skids that resulted in the Eagles getting a second place finish in the Eastern Division following a tiebreaker playoff match that also counted as the season finale for the Firestone team that got hot at the right time and Detroit (with Akron's Firestone squad winning both their last regular season game and the first playoff match of the series on March 6, 1940 with a 48–35 win in Akron, Ohio^[6]), while the Bruins would end up falling out of the playoffs entirely following a 56–53 loss to the Detroit Eagles, which led to Chicago finishing the Western Division with a third place finish with a 14–14 record behind both Oshkosh and Sheboygan's 15–13 record to share both first and second place together (with Oshkosh being considered the Western Division champions for what later became the last season (until the 1944–45 NBL season) to utilize divisions entirely) for what would be the Western Division's playoff series match-up.^[12]
• Following the conclusion of the regular season, the NBL would continue using the playoff format they had for the previous season by having the two best teams in both divisions competing against each other in a best of three series, with the remaining teams that won competing against each other for the NBL championship this season. However, it would be the last season that would utilize this format until the 1944–45 season commenced operations due, in part, to World War II's growing impact upon the world.
• After the NBL Playoffs concluded, the World Professional Basketball Tournament would return to action once again with the NBL sending in three of their own teams in the new Chicago Bruins entry alongside both the Oshkosh All-Stars and the Sheboygan Red Skins once again for the 1940 event.

After having the previous season's NBL Playoffs essentially be a best of five winner takes all championship series between the two best teams in each division, this season's playoffs showcased the return of the top two teams from each division competing in a best of three format, with the two winners in the Division Playoffs competing against each other in the NBL Championship series, which was also a best of five series this time around. The two best teams in the Eastern Division were the Akron Firestone Non-Skids, who were a works team that were also the previous season's champions, and the Detroit Eagles, while the two best teams in the Western Division represented the state of Wisconsin with cityside rivals in the Oshkosh All-Stars and the Sheboygan Red Skins competing against each other for the first time in their playoff history. The Akron Firestone Non-Skids would sweep the Detroit Eagles 2–0, while the Oshkosh All-Stars defeated the Sheboygan Red Skins 2–1 for a rematch of the 1939 NBL championship series. Similar to the previous season's championship series, the Firestone Non-Skids would end up beating the All-Stars franchise 3–2 to repeat as champions, though this series win by Akron would be through a reverse sweep this time around instead of by Akron winning the odd-numbered matches of games. Regardless, this marked the third straight season where either Akron-based works team would win the NBL's championship following the league's rebranding from the Midwest Basketball Conference to the National Basketball League (though if you include the two MBC seasons here, it’d be the fourth season out of five overall seasons where either the Goodyear or Firestone teams would win the league's championship by the end of the season). However, following this season's end, it would be the last time either Akron squad would win the league's championship, especially since both Akron squads would leave the league by 1941 and 1942, respectively for the Firestone and Goodyear franchises.

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.

• NBL Most Valuable Player: Leroy Edwards, Oshkosh All-Stars
• NBL Coach of the Year: Paul Sheeks, Akron Firestone Non-Skids
• NBL Rookie of the Year: Ben Stephens, Akron Goodyear Wingfoots

^[25]

For the second World Professional Basketball Tournament ever hosted, it would feature a total of fourteen teams competing in the event held in Chicago on March 18–22, 1940 (with this event starting one day after the Amateur Athletic Union began their championship tournament in Denver, Colorado that featured 56 teams there (including a future NBL team in the Denver Nuggets team that wouldn't be related to the present day Denver Nuggets NBA team)), with three NBL teams in the Chicago Bruins, Oshkosh All-Stars, and Sheboygan Red Skins competing against mostly independently ran teams (including the Rochester Seagrams, who hold their roots to the modern-day Sacramento Kings NBA team) alongside the Washington Heurich Brewers of the rivaling American Basketball League. Out of the three NBL teams this season that are competing in this event, the new hometown Chicago Bruins NBL team that previously operated in the original rendition of the American Basketball League from before the Great Depression would crush the Fort Wayne Harvesters with a 45–27 beatdown in their favor, the Sheboygan Red Skins would beat the Rochester Seagrams with a 44–32 victory, and the Oshkosh All-Stars brutally beat down the Brenton Harbor House of David basketball team with a 42–23 blowout victory to see all three of the NBL's teams move on to the quarterfinal round. From there, on March 19, the Sheboygan Red Skins would end their quarterfinal match to the Syracuse Reds (who were one of two teams to be granted a first round bye alongside the ABL's Washington Heurich Brewers) with a 39–30 defeat, while the Chicago Bruins would barely survive against the Oshkosh All-Stars with a 40–38 victory to have the hometown Bruins become the only current NBL team remaining in the event this time around. Luckily for the Bruins, they would play against a current ABL team in the Washington Heurich Brewers (who had the other first round bye in this event) in the semifinal round the following day, which led to the Bruins getting a 46–38 victory for a shot at being the first NBL team to win the event after Oshkosh failed to win the inaugural event against the all-black New York Renaissance. Unfortunately for the Bruins, their chance to win it all would end by having them going up against the world famous all-black Harlem Globetrotters (a more humorous and fun version of the New York Renaissance team that they not only had previously beaten in the quarterfinal round after previously beating the Kenosha Royals in the first round and later beating the Syracuse Reds in the semifinal round, but also previously had ties to the city of Chicago as well with the Globetrotters first starting out as the Chicago Globetrotters before moving to New York), with the world famous Harlem Globetrotters barely defeating the Chicago Bruins with a 31–29 final score (alongside the ABL's Washington Heurich Brewers defeating the Syracuse Reds 41–30 in their third place match) for the Harlem Globetrotters' Sonny Boswell being named the MVP of this event for the second (all-black) independent team to win this event that also featured NBL teams competing along the way.

• National Basketball League (United States)

• NBL Standings, 1937–1949 on apbr.org
• National Basketball League III – 1939–40 NBL Season Overview on retroseasons.com