1946–47 Chicago American Gears season

The 1946–47 Chicago American Gears season was the American Gears' third and final year in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which was also the tenth year the league existed. However, if you include the (at least) one previous season where they competed in the Amateur Athletic Union before making the jump into the NBL, this would actually be their fourth and final full season of play instead. This also was the NBL's first official season where they actually implemented a drafting system similar to what the future rivaling Basketball Association of America (and later merging partner to become the National Basketball Association) had for the eventual NBA draft system a year later following the conclusion of their inaugural league season for the purpose of controlled player salaries and limiting the idea of outbidding other players outside of their own 12-player teams at hand (with the NBL having a budget of $6,000 this season), as well as implementing key players to signing binding contracts as soon as they could and the NBL looking to have full-time referees on display. Twelve teams competed in the NBL in 1946–47, comprising six teams in both the Eastern and Western Divisions.

Chicago played their home games at the International Amphitheatre, which would have a significantly larger crowd capacity at hand than the venue they used for the previous season, the Cicero Stadium. Despite finishing tied for third place in the Western Division, the American Gears made a surprise playoffs run by winning the first series three games to two (3–2) over the Indianapolis Kautskys, followed by a 2–0 sweep of Oshkosh All-Stars in the semifinals. They then went on to win their first and only NBL championship 3–1 over Eastern Division champion Rochester Royals. Weirdly enough, despite the American Gears being considered the champions of the 1947 NBL Playoffs, the NBL's commissioner of the time period, Ward Lambert, considered the American Gears to only be the champions of the NBL Playoffs that season instead of the overall champions of the league since he inexplicably considered the team with the best overall record that season (the Rochester Royals) to be the official league champions that season. That decision would help play into the team's final decision into leaving the NBL in order to create their own, short-lived rivaling professional league called the Professional Basketball League of America for their short, final following season of play.

When combining their NBL scheduled regular season and playoff games with the exhibition games they had this season, the Chicago American Gears would have a 47–31 (or 47–32 if an NBL game against the Rochester Royals that Chicago had protested to later was considered a no contest match actually counted) record.

Player-coach Bobby McDermott (First Team), George Mikan (First), and Bob Calihan (Second) all earned All-NBL honors for this season.