Summary
Two NBA franchises moved before the season began. The last small-market team, the Syracuse Nationals, became the Philadelphia 76ers and the Chicago Zephyrs became the Baltimore Bullets. Maurice Podoloff, who had served as the league's commissioner since its founding, retired and was replaced by J. Walter Kennedy.
One big change took place in the standings. Alex Hannum became head coach of the San Francisco Warriors and turned them into the best defensive team in the league, with help from rookie shot-blocker Nate Thurmond.
San Francisco's Wilt Chamberlain was again the scoring leader, but he averaged nearly 8 points less than he had the previous season and 14.5 points less than two seasons before. But that, combined with the tough defense, was enough to vault the Warriors from fourth place into first.
The Boston Celtics won the Eastern Division once more, though their four-game margin over Cincinnati was smaller than usual. However, the Celtics beat the Royals in five games to advance into the finals.
The Warriors had much more of a challenge in their division championship series, but they survived the seven-game battle with the St. Louis Hawks. They couldn't cope with the Celtics, though. Boston won the finals in five games to win a sixth straight championship. That broke the professional record that the Celtics had formerly shared with the New York Yankees and Montreal Canadiens.
Bob Pettit of St. Louis became the league's all-time scoring leader with 19,756 points, surpassing Dolph Schayes, who had retired after the 1962-63 season. Johnny "Red" Kerr of Philadelphia also set a record by playing in his 745th consecutive regular season game.
Center Jerry Lucas of Cincinnati, who led the league in field goal percentage, edged San Francisco's Thurmond for Rookie of the Year honors.
