Recap
Two new major league circuits began play in the 1909-10 season, in direct competition with the established Central Basketball League. From the ashes of the Philadelphia Basketball League rose the Eastern Basketball League, featuring star Harry Hough and his Trenton squad, and additional teams from Elizabeth, New Jersey, Reading, Pennsylvania, and three teams in Philadelphia.
By 1923, four major leagues gave professional basketball an apparent glow of prosperity, but it was deceiving. The Eastern Basketball League, the New York State Basketball League and the Interstate Basketball League were all ailing financially. Only the second-year Metropolitan Basketball League showed any signs of vitality. In January of 1923, after twelve years as the premier professional league, the Eastern Basketball League disbanded.
what a year. the competitiveness of the ABL really brought the NBA out of its duldrums.