Which was the first college or NBA basketball team to debut the now
fashionable "long shorts" in a televised game?  I would like to know
upon what source you based you answer please.

"Shorts
 
Though it appears shorts are getting longer and longer each year, they
cannot be lower than one inch above the knee during an NBA game. Baggy
shorts first were popularized by Michael Jordan, who liked to tug on
his shorts while playing defence. Former University of Michigan
teammates Jalen Rose and Chris Webber also preferred the relaxed fit
of extra-large shorts. Prior to this, short shorts were the norm, with
Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics and John Stockton of the Utah Jazz
both choosing a tighter fit."

I quoted this from this site:

http://test.nba.com/canada/bu_fashion.html

I hope this answers your query,
tlspiegel-ga

Although the person who answered was in agreement with people who just
"commented", I felt those that commentated had better and more
complete answers.

BTW, I searched for nba first long shorts (
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&querytime=Yi3S&q=nba+first+long+shorts
)

To amend my previous comment (quoted too much!):

Hi grizz-ga! 
 
I have often wondered about this, especially when I come accross old
clips of games from the era of tight shorts...  And I think I found
the answer.
 
The following is an excerpt from a Raleigh News & Observer article
(Long, Baggy Look Stands Test Of Time, By ELIZABETH WELLINGTON, Staff
Writer) found through the Blue Heaven Museum site ( full text @
http://www.blueheavenmuseum.com/Baggy%20Look.htm ).  The Blue Heaven
Museum is located in Chapel Hill, NC, and celebrates the history of
UNC Basketball.
 
 "During the 1991-92 season, five freshmen at the University of
Michigan turned longer shorts into the unwritten uniform of college
hoops and eventually the NBA. (They also popularized black socks, but
that's another piece of fashion history.)
 
 Brian Dutcher, then an assistant coach for the Fab Five team, had
noticed before that season that players were pulling their shorts down
to their hips; their jerseys wouldn't stay tucked in, and that bugged
him.  Dutcher, who had seen Arkansas’ players wearing longer shorts,
decided to order a pair of shorts 2 to 4 inches longer.  He wanted to
see how they looked.  “I showed them to Juwan [Howard], and he liked
them, so we ordered all of the shorts longer,” says Dutcher, now an
assistant at San Diego State under former Michigan head coach Steve
Fisher.  “The team was so good that they got all the exposure.”
 
 Dugan Fife, who joined the team the following season, remembers
putting on his first pair of extra-large shorts.  “They were huge,”
Fife says.  “I had to get mine shortened. They were too long. They
were down to mid-shin.”
 
 That was the beginning. The next year, dozens of coaches from schools
around the country started ordering the longer shorts.  In 1994, North
Carolina, which had defeated Michigan in the 1993 national
championship game, ordered its first set of oversized shorts."
  
I hope this article answers your question!  If you have any other
questions, let me know...
 
(I have recently been approved as a researcher, but am waiting for
Google to "turn on" my ability to officially Answer questions, so this
is a freebie :)

Another reference to the same team:
"In 1991, the University of Michigan unveiled not only what most
consider the most exciting recruiting  class in the history of college
basketball, (Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard part of the Fab
Five) but also a revolutionary fashion statement.
"Baggy is better.
"Everywhere the Wolverines went, jaws dropped. No one had ever seen
anything like what they were wearing. Loose and long jerseys and
shorts made of glimmering fabric with embroidered Nike swooshes made
UM an instant favorite across the country."

There seems to be little question that the 1991-92 Wolverines
popularized the style.  But it appears they copied the style from the
University of Arksansas, which probably had televised games, at least
regionally.
http://www.usforacle.com/pages/html/20000926/20000926-sports1.html

Too bad John Stockton never caught on.  ;-)