The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). It is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world. The league was founded in New York City on June 6 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). It changed its name to the National Basketball Association on August 3 1949 after merging with the competing National Basketball League (NBL). In 1976 the NBA and the American Basketball Association (ABA) merged adding four franchises to the NBA. The NBA's regular season runs from October to April with each team playing 82 games. The league's playoff tournament extends into June culminating with the NBA Finals championship series. As of 2020 NBA players are the world's best paid athletes by average annual salary per player.