The NBA, as a basketball league with a strong entertainment nature (established initially to sell tickets by utilizing idle venues), has only allowed man-to-man defense since its inception in 1946, prohibiting zone defense.
However, just like traveling, a technical move strictly forbidden from the birth of basketball, zone defense has never truly disappeared from the NBA courts.
In 1946, 40 years ago, an era that sounds very distant, World War II had just ended, many countries were beginning to rebuild from the ruins, and some were still at war. Americans were already considering how to make basketball games more interesting and appealing to the audience.
By that time, the sport of basketball had been developing for over 50 years. College competitions, amateur matches, and scattered regional professional leagues had already flourished throughout North America. The NBA was just a minor professional league in the Northeast.
