Owned by Italian Immigrant Danny Biasone, the Syracuse Nationals begin play in the National Basketball League. In the same year, professional basketball was finally gaining some legitimacy with the rival Basketball Association of America that was based in large cities like New York and Philadelphia.

While in the NBL with teams primarily consisting of small Midwestern towns, the Nationals put together a 21-23 record finishing in fourth place. In the playoffs, the Nats would be beaten by the fellow upstate neighbor Rochester Royals in four games.