1949–50 Tri-Cities Blackhawks season

Red Auerbach (28–29) (eliminated 1–2)

The 1949–50 season was the Tri-Cities Blackhawks' fourth season of play and first in the National Basketball Association (NBA). This season was notable for it being the only season to have legendary head coach Red Auerbach (previously of the Washington Capitols) coaching the team, though he only be coaching for the vast majority of this season following previous head coach Roger Potter being fired for a dismal 1–6 start to the season. By the end of the season, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks would join the Indianapolis Olympians as the only teams from the Central Division from this season to end up playing beyond this season in the end, as four of the Central Division's teams would defect from the NBA to create a short-lived rivaling professional basketball league to compete against the NBA called the National Professional Basketball League. Not only that, but the Blackhawks franchise were the only team from that season's Central Division to survive up to this present day, albeit with them playing under the most recent name of the Atlanta Hawks instead, as the Olympians would fold operations after a few seasons due to two key players of theirs being permanently banned from the NBA and subsequently being forced to sell their shares of the team at a significant loss.