There is no one oldest NBA team because in 1946, the NBA started with 11 teams.
Those 11 teams were:
* Fort Wayne Pistons/Detroit Pistons were formed in 1941, making it the oldest franchise.
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This is actually really hard to answer. The NBA started in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America, or BAA. After merging with the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1949, it became the National Basketball Association.
The original BAA teams were as follows:
Baltimore Bullets, Boston Celtics (still active), Chicago Stags, Cleveland Rebels, Detroit Falcons, Fort Wayne Pistons (still active, now in Detroit), Indianapolis Jets, Minneapolis Lakers (still active, now in L.A.), New York Knickerbockers (still active, commenly called the 'Knicks'), Philadelphia Warriors (still active, now in Oakland and called 'Golden State Warriors'), Pittsburgh Ironmen, Providence Steamrollers, Rochester Royals (still active, now called the Sacramento Kings), St. Louis Bombers, Toronto Huskies, and the Washington Capitols.
Now the NBL started in 1937, and had many more teams than the BAA did, but the teams that still exist today are:
Buffalo Bisons (now the Atlanta Hawks), Detroit Gems (combined with the Minneapolis Lakers and are now in L.A.), Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (now in Detroit), Minneapolis Lakers (now in L.A.), Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings), Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76er's), and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (combined with Buffalo and are now the Atlanta Hawks).
Now considering that the NBL started before the BAA, NBL teams were older. That makes the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (started in 1941) the oldest active NBA team.
Answer: Detroit Pistons who originated in 1941.
The NBA began in 1946 with 11 teams: Boston, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence, Cleveland, Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, and St. Louis. There are only two original teams with their original names left-- the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks (Knickerbockers).
Lakers is the longest that still exists but they were at Minneapolis. the longest in the current city today is Celtics.