The Commissioner of the NBA is the chief executive of the National Basketball Association. The commissioner is elected by the NBA owners.

Maurice Podoloff (1946–1963)

Maurice Podoloff was the first president of the National Basketball Association. He served from the league's founding as the Basketball Association of America in 1946 until 1963.

After the BAA signed several of the top names in the National Basketball League into the league, Podoloff negotiated a merger between the two groups to form the National Basketball Association in 1949. As a lawyer with no previous basketball experience, Podoloff's great organizational and administrative skills were later regarded as the key factor that kept the league alive in its often stormy formative years.

In 17 years as president, Podoloff expanded the NBA to as many as 17 teams. He also briefly formed three divisions and scheduled 558 games.

During his tenure, Podoloff introduced the collegiate draft in 1947, and in 1954 instituted the 24 second shot clock created by Dan Biasone, owner of the Syracuse Nationals which quickened the pace of games, and took the NBA from a slow plodding game to a fast paced sport. In 1954, Podoloff also increased national recognition of the game immensely by securing its first television contract.