Who were the most successful basketball teams of the 1880s?

The sport of basketball as we know it today did not exist in the 1880s. In fact, basketball was not invented until 1891 by Dr. James Naismith. While there were some early forms of basketball-like games played in the 1880s, the sport had not yet been standardized, and there were no organized teams or leagues.

It was not until the early 1900s that basketball began to gain popularity and organized teams began to form. The first professional basketball league, the National Basketball League (NBL), was formed in 1898, but it was not until the formation of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1946 that professional basketball began to take off.

So while there were no successful basketball teams in the 1880s, the decade did see the development of some of the precursor games that eventually led to the invention of basketball.