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#7 to #3 Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers (All founded in 1946)
As mentioned earlier, the NBA was founded in 1946, and three of the original teams remain in the league. They are the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and the Golden State Warriors. The Atlanta Hawks and the Philadelphia 76ers were also founded in 1946, but they joined the NBA in 1949.
The Celtics, Knicks and Warriors have combined to win 25 NBA championships. Boston have won 17, New York two and Golden State six. Meanwhile, the Hawks have one championship and the Sixers three.
Boston and New York have not changed names or relocated, while the Warriors started in Philadelphia. They relocated to San Francisco in 1962 before changing their name to Golden State nine years later.
The Hawks were founded in Buffalo and then moved to Moline, Milwaukee, and St. Louis before settling in Atlanta in 1968. Meanwhile, the Sixers were first known as the Syracuse Nationals before moving to Philadelphia in 1963.
#2 Detroit Pistons (Founded in 1941)
Believe it or not, the Detroit Pistons are older than the NBA. The Pistons were founded in 1937 as a semi-professional basketball team known as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons.
They joined the NBA in 1948 as the Fort Wayne Pistons before becoming the Detroit Pistons in 1957. The Pistons have won three NBA championships, doing so in 1989, 1990 and 2004. Before joining the NBA, the Pistons were two-time champions in the NBL.
#1 Sacramento Kings (founded in 1923)
The oldest franchise in the NBA is the Sacramento Kings. The Kings were founded in 1923, more than two decades before the NBA was formed. The franchise started as a semi-professional team called the Rochester Seagrams.
After 22 years since their foundation, the team joined the NBL as the Rochester Royals, and won the championship in their first season. They then became part of the NBA in 1948, and stayed in Rochester until 1957.
The franchise became the Cincinnati Royals and the Kansas City Royals in the next few decades. They became the Sacramento Kings in 1985, and stayed in the city despite a few attempts to relocate by some of their former owners.
