1959-60 NBA Season Standings

The Boston Celtics won their second consecutive championship, defeating the St. Louis Hawks 4 games to 3 in a Finals rematch of the 1958 series, with Bill Russell dominating the boards throughout the series. Wilt Chamberlain made a historic debut with the Philadelphia Warriors, winning both MVP and Rookie of the Year while averaging a staggering 37.6 points and 27.0 rebounds per game, numbers that remain almost unimaginable by modern standards; his first meeting with Bill Russell on November 7, 1959 launched one of the NBA's greatest individual rivalries, one that would define the league's competitive landscape for years. The league expanded its schedule from 72 to 75 games per team this season, part of a gradual lengthening of the regular season that would eventually reach the 82-game format used today. This was also the final season for the Minneapolis Lakers before their relocation to Los Angeles for 1960-61, and fittingly the Lakers and Warriors played a symbolic two-game series in California that January, previewing both franchises' future homes on the West Coast. The league still fielded eight teams organized into Eastern and Western Divisions, with Boston and St. Louis running away with their respective divisions well ahead of the pack.