The
ABA–NBA merger was the merger of the
American Basketball AssociationThe American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
with the
National Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
, which after multiple attempts over several years finally occurred in 1976.
Origins of ABA-NBA competition
In 1967, there were only ten teams in the NBA and the league was resistant to expanding. Expansion teams were charged very high prices ($1.5 million in a time before any significant NBA television contract; over $8 million in 2007 dollars). As a result, businessmen in several cities decided to establish an alternative professional basketball league to compete with the NBA, with an eye toward an eventual merger with the NBA. The competition between the ABA and NBA included often-brutal fights to sign the best players. The ABA also made a bold move by signing the NBA's best officials (referees) to officiate ABA games.
Early attempts at merger
From the very beginning, the ABA hoped to force a merger with the NBA, thus repeating the
American Football LeagueThe American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
's successful effort to
force a mergerThe AFL–NFL merger of 1970 was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League and the American Football League...
with the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. According to
The NBA Encyclopedia, the ABA's main selling point was that a potential owner could get an ABA team for half of what it cost to get an NBA expansion team at the time. ABA officials told prospective owners that if they held out until the merger, their investment would more than double.
In June 1970, only three years after the ABA began play, the NBA owners voted 13-4 to work toward a merger with the ABA.
Seattle SuperSonicsThe Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as...
owner
Sam SchulmanSamuel "Sam" Schulman was an American businessman from New York who was a founding owner and President of the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association and an owner of the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League.Born April 10, 1910, in New York City, Schulman graduated...
, a member of the ABA–NBA merger committee in 1970, was so ardently eager to merge the leagues that he publicly announced that if the NBA did not accept the merger agreement worked out with the ABA, he would move the SuperSonics from the NBA to the ABA. Schulman also threatened to move his soon-to-be ABA team to
Los AngelesLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to compete directly with the Lakers. The owners of the
Dallas ChaparralsThe Dallas Chaparrals were a charter member of the American Basketball Association, later becoming the San Antonio Spurs and joining the NBA.The team suffered from poor attendance and general disinterest in Dallas...
(now the NBA's
San Antonio SpursThe San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
) were so confident of the impending merger that they suggested that the ABA hold off on scheduling and playing a regular season schedule for the 1971-72 season. After the 1970-71 season Basketball Weekly wrote "The American basketball public is clamoring for a merger. So are the NBA and ABA owners, the two commissioners, and every college coach. The war is over. The Armistice will be signed soon." The two leagues continued merger discussions and plans through the early and mid 1970s.
The Oscar Robertson lawsuit
The early attempts at merging the ABA and NBA were delayed for years by litigation known as the
Oscar Robertson suitRobertson v. National Basketball Association, 556 F.2d 682 , was an antitrust lawsuit filed by American basketball player Oscar Robertson against the National Basketball Association.- Overview :...
, styled
Robertson v. National Basketball Association, 556 F.2d 682 (2d Cir. 1977). After the NBA owners voted in 1970 to merge with the ABA, the NBA Players Association filed a lawsuit in April 1970 to prevent the merger on antitrust grounds. The existence of the ABA resulted in increased salaries for players in both leagues as the ABA and NBA competed with each other to sign players. The Robertson suit was finally settled on February 3, 1976, but for the entirety of its pendency it presented an insurmountable obstacle to the desired merger of the two leagues.
Congressional action to allow the merger
In 1972, Congress came close to enacting legislation to enable a merger despite the Oscar Robertson suit. In September 1972 a merger bill was reported favorably out of a
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
committee. But the bill was put together to please the owners and ended up not pleasing the Senators or the players. The bill subsequently died without coming to a floor vote. When Congress reconvened in 1973 another merger bill was presented to the Senate, but did not advance. As a result of the legislation's failure the ABA installed a new commissioner,
Mike StorenMike Storen is an American sports executive, perhaps best known for his tenure as commissioner of the American Basketball Association.Storen started in professional sports management in 1963, after serving in the United States Marine Corps, as promotions director for the Baltimore Bullets of the...
, with part of his focus being the eventual merger of the two leagues as equals.
Alex HannumAlexander Murray Hannum was a professional basketball player and Hall-of-Fame coach.-Coaching career:Hannum is mostly known for coaching the Wilt Chamberlain-led Philadelphia 76ers of 1966-67 to the NBA championship, ending the eight-year title streak of the Boston Celtics. He had also coached the...
, who coached in both the NBA and ABA, said at the time of Storen, "The most important problem he has is still the merger with the NBA. And I believe his approach is just right for us. Storen wants to build our league to be the strongest. Then he can negotiate with the NBA as an equal." Sports Illustrated noted at the time that "the tactics Storen says the ABA will employ sound a good deal more like those used by
AFLThe American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
Commissioner
Al DavisAllen "Al" Davis was an American football executive. He was the principal owner of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League from 1970 to 2011...
in the last days of the football war than a plan for peaceful coexistence. The ABA has reinstituted its $300 million antitrust suit against the NBA. It also may move some franchises into better TV markets, an ill-advised maneuver that will mean going against established NBA teams on their home turf. And for the first time since 1970 the ABA will go after established NBA players. 'We will have exploratory contract talks with lots of their men,' Storen says. 'Whether we'll sign none, six or 10 of them will depend on how things work out. But you can be sure of one thing: we'll do this in a serious, orderly way.'" As a result of the merger legislation not being enacted and the Oscar Robertson suit continuing, the two leagues did not merge until 1976, after the Oscar Robertson suit had finally been settled.
Interleague competition in anticipation of merger
In the summer before the 1971-72 season the ABA and NBA met in an interleague All Star Game. The NBA won a close game, 125-120. In that same preseason, ABA and NBA teams began playing exhibition games against each other. The first such exhibition was played on September 21, 1971 with
Kareem Abdul-JabbarKareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season...
and the
Milwaukee BucksThe Milwaukee Bucks are a professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. They are part of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, and currently plays at the Bradley Center....
barely defeating the
Dallas ChaparralsThe Dallas Chaparrals were a charter member of the American Basketball Association, later becoming the San Antonio Spurs and joining the NBA.The team suffered from poor attendance and general disinterest in Dallas...
, 106-103. Gradually, the ABA began to prove itself superior, going 15-10 against the NBA in 1973, 16-7 in 1974, and 31-17 in 1975. Overall, the ABA won more of these interleague games than the NBA did, and in every matchup of reigning champions from the two leagues, the ABA champion won, including in the final pre-merger season when the
Kentucky ColonelsThe Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
defeated the
Golden State WarriorsThe Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
. Boston Globe sportswriter
Bob RyanBob Ryan is an American sportswriter for The Boston Globe. He has been described as "the quintessential American sportswriter" and a basketball guru and is well known for his coverage of the sport including his famous stories covering the Boston Celtics in the 1970s. After graduating from Boston...
said of the ABA-NBA exhibition games: "When those exhibition games began, the view in the NBA was, 'Now we'll show those guys.' But then you know what happened - the ABA teams won nearly as often as the NBA did .... Those NBA-ABA games were intense." Longtime NBA coach Larry Brown said of the ABA vs. NBA games, "When some exhibition games were arranged in the 1970s to make some money and we (the ABA) beat them, the NBA said they weren't up for the games. Come on. When I coached Carolina, we played the Knicks after they won a championship. I looked at their guys shooting around and I looked at my guys and I didn't want my players to take off their warm-ups because they looked so scrawny next to the Knicks - and we went out and beat New York. We also played the Celtics a couple of times and beat them. (Celtics coach) Tommy Heinsohn would say that we were playing to win and they weren't, but I'd check the box score and see that Tommy played his regulars 35 to 40 minutes, so what does that tell you?"
Interest in ABA vs. NBA play extended beyond the two leagues' management. In 1976,
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
sought to establish a postseason playoff between the ABA and NBA, and to win the rights to broadcast those games.
Denver Nuggets and New York Nets attempt to depart
Before the 1975-76 season, the
Denver NuggetsThe Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...
and New York Nets applied to join the NBA. The owners of the Nets and Nuggets had approached
John Y. Brown, Jr.This article is about one of four John Young Browns, from Kentucky, that have served political office. For others see: John Young Brown ...
in an attempt to get his Kentucky Colonels to join their attempted leap to the NBA, but Brown refused, saying he was staying loyal to the ABA. Ultimately, the Nets and Nuggets were forced to play a lame-duck season in the ABA by court order.
The Nuggets' and Nets' attempted move to the NBA created a great deal of ill will within the ABA, and brought attention to the emerging financial weakness of some of the league's lesser teams.
Baltimore Claws, San Diego Sails and Utah Stars collapse
Meanwhile, the ABA saw three of its teams disappear before the end of 1975. The
Memphis SoundsMemphis Sounds was the final name of a franchise in the American Basketball Association. The team had begun as the New Orleans Buccaneers, and after three seasons in New Orleans, Louisiana moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where it had occasionally played some home games in the past to reasonable crowds...
moved to
BaltimoreBaltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
as the
ClawsThe Baltimore Claws was an American basketball team which was supposed to appear in the 1975-76 season in the American Basketball Association. The team collapsed before the season started, playing only three exhibition games in its brief history.-Background:...
, but were folded after only three preseason games after failing to post a performance bond with the league. On November 12, 1975--three weeks into the season--the
San Diego SailsThe San Diego Sails were an American Basketball Association team based in San Diego, California; the team played an incomplete season only, beginning the 1975-1976 ABA season but folding before its completion.-San Diego Conquistadors:...
folded. The Sails had been plagued by wretched attendance, and their owner had learned the team would most likely be excluded from any upcoming ABA–NBA merger because
Los Angeles LakersThe Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
owner
Jack Kent CookeJack Kent Cooke was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins , the Los Angeles Lakers , and the Los Angeles Kings , and built The Forum in Inglewood, California and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.-Early career:Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to...
didn't want competition in Southern California for either his team or their television coverage on the
cable televisionCable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
system he owned. The Sails' players were put into a special dispersal draft.
Shortly afterward, the
Utah StarsThe Utah Stars was an American Basketball Association team based in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround.-History:...
, once one of the league's longstanding and successful teams, folded as well on December 2, 1975 as a result of not making payroll.
Bill DanielsRobert W. "Bill" Daniels was a pioneer in the cable television industry, commonly known as the "Father of Cable Television". He was an owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and a founder of the United States Football League ....
, the Stars' owner, was out of money due to his unsuccessful campaign to become
Governor of ColoradoThe Governor of Colorado is the head of the executive branch of Colorado's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Colorado General Assembly, to convene the...
and difficulties with other business ventures. (Daniels eventually paid back all Stars season ticket holders in full plus 8% interest). There had been talks between the Stars and the
Spirits of St. LouisThe Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...
about the two teams merging, but the Stars folded before it could happen. Most of the Stars players, including
Moses MaloneMoses Eugene Malone is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who starred in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association...
, were sold to the Spirits of St. Louis. With the ABA cut down to seven teams, the league abandoned divisional play.
Virginia Squires struggle
Another ABA team, the
Virginia SquiresThe Virginia Squires were a basketball franchise in the former American Basketball Association from 1970 until just before the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.-In Oakland :...
, struggled mightily in its final two years. Blessed with remarkable talent in previous years, the Squires had sold fan favorites such as
Julius ErvingJulius Winfield Erving II , commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim....
,
Rick BarryRichard Francis Dennis Barry III , better known as Rick Barry, is a retired American professional basketball player. He is considered by many veteran basketball observers to be one of the greatest pure small forwards of all time as a result of his very precise outside shot, uncanny court vision,...
,
George GervinGeorge "The Iceman" Gervin is a retired American professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association for the Virginia Squires, San Antonio Spurs, and Chicago Bulls...
, Warren Armstrong,
Billy PaultzWilliam Edward "Bill" Paultz is a retired American professional basketball player.Paultz played college basketball at Saint John's University and was selected in the seventh round of the 1970 NBA Draft by the San Diego Rockets and by the Virginia Squires in the 1970 ABA Draft. Paultz opted to...
and
Swen NaterSwen Eric Nater is a retired Dutch professional basketball player, primarily in the ABA and NBA.-Basketball career:Nater helped John Wooden's UCLA Bruins win two NCAA titles....
because of constant financial problems. In the 1974-75 season, the once-successful Squires posted a league's-worst record of 15-69. In the 1975-76 season the Squires tied their own record, posting the identical league's-worst won-loss record. Moreover, due to dwindling attendance, the Squires were literally fighting just to survive until the end of the season. On several occasions, the Squires barely made payroll.
By the end of the 1975-76 season, the Squires were completely out of financial resources. Although it had been apparent even before then that they would not be part of any merger, they were folded by the league on May 11, 1976 after failing to pay a $75,000 league assessment.
The Final Six
After the Squires folded, the
Kentucky ColonelsThe Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
, led by
Artis GilmoreArtis Gilmore is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association...
, defeated the
Indiana PacersThe Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
in the first round of the
1976 ABA PlayoffsThe 1976 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1975-1976 season. The tournament concluded with the New York Nets defeating the Denver Nuggets four games to two in the ABA Finals....
. The Colonels, in turn, lost a seven-game semifinal series to the
Denver NuggetsThe Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...
, led by
Dan IsselDaniel Paul Issel is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player and coach.-Collegiate playing career:...
and
David ThompsonDavid O'Neil Thompson is a former American professional basketball star with the Denver Nuggets of both the National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association , as well as the Seattle SuperSonics...
. The Nuggets, in turn, lost the ABA Finals to the New York Nets with
Julius ErvingJulius Winfield Erving II , commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim....
, who had defeated
George GervinGeorge "The Iceman" Gervin is a retired American professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association for the Virginia Squires, San Antonio Spurs, and Chicago Bulls...
and the
San Antonio SpursThe San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
to get there. The
Spirits of St. LouisThe Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...
and their star
Moses MaloneMoses Eugene Malone is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who starred in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association...
had survived the regular season but missed the playoffs. All six teams were still standing as the ABA and NBA, with the Oscar Robertson suit settled, commenced their final merger negotiations. The merger was finally consummated on June 17, 1976, at the NBA league meetings in the Cape Cod Room at Dunfey's Hyannis Resort in
Hyannis, MassachusettsHyannis is the largest of seven villages in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Also it is the commercial and transportation hub of Cape Cod and was designated an urban area as a result of the 1990 census. Because of this, many refer to Hyannis as the "Capital of the Cape"...
.
Kentucky Colonels
The Colonels were one of the strongest franchises throughout the history of the ABA. In addition, the Kentucky Colonels-Indiana Pacers rivalry was the league's fiercest, and in all of professional basketball (NBA included), the Colonels ranked sixth in attendance. In spite of that history, the Colonels' final games came in the
1976 ABA PlayoffsThe 1976 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1975-1976 season. The tournament concluded with the New York Nets defeating the Denver Nuggets four games to two in the ABA Finals....
as the defending champions bested the Pacers to advance to the semifinals before bowing out to the Nuggets in a tight seven game series.
John Y. Brown, Jr.This article is about one of four John Young Browns, from Kentucky, that have served political office. For others see: John Young Brown ...
, the owner of the Colonels, preceded the 1975-76 season by selling star center
Dan IsselDaniel Paul Issel is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player and coach.-Collegiate playing career:...
for $500,000 to the Baltimore Claws. However, when the money never arrived, Brown sent Issel to the Nuggets. Shortly afterward, he sent defensive standout Teddy McClain to the New York Nets for $150,000. Those transactions, especially the sale of former
University of KentuckyThe University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
star Issel, turned off many of the Colonels' fans. Though it was clear to everyone that the Colonels had the talent and the fan support to join the NBA for the 1976-77 season, in the face of various obstacles, Brown had other plans. The NBA's
Chicago BullsThe Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
desperately wanted Colonels star
Artis GilmoreArtis Gilmore is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association...
, whose NBA rights the Bulls owned, so the Bulls fought hard to keep the Colonels out of the merger.
During the merger negotiations in June 1976, the NBA made it clear that it would accept only four ABA teams, not five. The Nuggets and Nets, clearly the ABA's two strongest teams, were obvious choices. The Spurs had posted impressive attendance numbers since moving from Dallas, and were thus a very attractive choice. With the Bulls letting it be known they would object to the Colonels being part of any merger, the Pacers were the next most viable choice. Brown saw the writing on the wall and decided that it was better to fold the Colonels for cash, instead of continuing to fight.
On June 17, 1976, Brown reached a financial agreement with the remaining teams in the ABA and folded the Colonels for $3 million. In addition to the $3 million that Brown received for agreeing to fold the Colonels and stay out of the ABA–NBA merger, he also sold Gilmore's rights to the Bulls for $1.1 million.
According to the terms of the ABA–NBA merger the Kentucky Colonels players were placed into a dispersal draft (along with the players from the Spirits of St. Louis). The Chicago Bulls took Gilmore for $1.1 million. The Portland Trail Blazers took
Maurice LucasMaurice Lucas was an American professional basketball player. The first two years of his postcollegiate career were spent in the American Basketball Association with the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels...
for $300,000, the Buffalo Braves took
Bird AverittWilliam Rodney "Bird" Averitt is a retired American basketball player.He played collegiately for Pepperdine University...
for $125,000, the Indiana Pacers took
Wil JonesWilbert "Wil" Jones is an American former professional basketball player.A 6'8" forward from Albany State University, Jones was drafted in the fifth round of the 1969 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers and by the Miami Floridians in the 1969 ABA Draft.Jones played seven seasons in the American...
for $50,000, the New York Nets took
Jan van Breda Kolff for $60,000, and the San Antonio Spurs took
Louie DampierLouis "Louie" Dampier is a retired American professional basketball player.A 6-foot-tall guard, Dampier is one of only a handful of men to play all nine seasons in the American Basketball Association , all with the Kentucky Colonels...
for $20,000. With the funds he received from the agreement with the other ABA teams and Colonels players sold in the dispersal draft, Brown promptly turned around and bought the NBA's
Buffalo BravesThe Buffalo Braves were a team in the National Basketball Association. They later moved to San Diego, California to become the San Diego Clippers then subsequently the Los Angeles Clippers....
for $1.5 million, and parlayed the Braves into ownership of the Boston Celtics.
Spirits of St. Louis
Brothers
OzzieOzzie Silna is an American businessman best known for his success in the textile industry, as co-owner of the American Basketball Association's Spirits of St. Louis and the lucrative deal cut to fold that team during the ABA-NBA merger....
and
Daniel SilnaDaniel Silna is an American businessman best known for his success in the textile industry and as co-owner of the American Basketball Association team known as the Spirits of St. Louis and the incredibly lucrative deal cut to fold that team during the ABA-NBA merger.Brothers Daniel and Ozzie Silna...
had made a fortune as pioneers in the manufacture of polyester, and they wanted to own an NBA team. After an attempt to purchase the
Detroit PistonsThe Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
fell short, the Silnas purchased the ABA's
Carolina CougarsCarolina Cougars was a basketball franchise in the former American Basketball Association that existed from late 1969 through 1974. The Cougars were originally a charter member of the ABA as the Houston Mavericks in 1967. The Mavericks moved to North Carolina in late 1969 after two unsuccessful...
franchise with the expectation of moving it into the NBA with the impending merger of the two leagues. The Silna brothers moved the Cougars to
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
because it was then the largest city in the United States without a professional basketball team, and they thought this would make their team more likely to join the NBA. In 1974, the Cougars, roster and all, were overhauled and became the ABA's
Spirits of St. LouisThe Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...
from 1974 through 1976. The 1974–75 Spirits had upset the reigning ABA champion New York Nets in the
1975 Eastern Division FinalsThe 1975 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1974-1975 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Division champion Kentucky Colonels defeating the Western Division champion Indiana Pacers, four games to one in the ABA Finals.The Kentucky...
before losing to the eventual champion Kentucky Colonels, but in the 1975–76 season the Spirits' play was uneven and their attendance waned.
The 1975–76 season had not turned out so well in terms of either attendance or wins on the court. In May 1976, due to attendance problems in St. Louis, the Spirits announced that they were going to move to
Salt Lake City, UtahSalt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
to play as the
Utah RockiesUtah Rockies was the name under which the Spirits of St. Louis were to play during the ultimately aborted 1976–77 American Basketball Association season....
when a lease agreement for the
Salt PalaceThis article describes a large building in Utah. A one-story building made of locally mined salt blocks in Grand Saline, Texas is also called the "Salt Palace"....
was arranged. This followed an attempted merger of the Spirits and the Utah Stars franchise during the 1975–76 season, a merger that, had it occurred, contemplated the team leaving St. Louis for Utah. But the Stars folded before the merger could occur and instead, the Spirits bought the rights to some of the Stars' best players, including Moses Malone. In an effort to be included in the ABA–NBA merger, the Spirits' owners, the Silna brothers, proposed selling the Spirits to a Utah group, buying the Kentucky Colonels franchise, and moving the Colonels to Buffalo to replace the Buffalo Braves, who were then planning to move to
Hollywood, Florida-Demographics:As of 2000, there were 59,673 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of...
. The Spirits were not included in the merger, but the Silna brothers nonetheless managed to turn the merger, for them, into one of the greatest deals in the history of professional sports:
In June 1976, the remaining ABA owners agreed, in return for the Spirits folding, to pay the St. Louis owners $2.2 million in cash up front in addition to a 1/7 share of the four remaining teams' television revenues
in perpetuity. As the NBA's popularity exploded in the 1980s and 1990s, the league's television rights were sold to CBS and then NBC, and additional deals were struck with the TNT and TBS cable networks; league television revenue soared into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The Silnas continue to receive checks from the NBA on a yearly basis, representing a 4/7 share of the television money that would normally go to any NBA franchise, or about two percent of the entire league's TV deal.
Thanks to their deal during the ABA–NBA merger, the Silnas received millions of dollars through the 1980s, and at least $4.4 million per year through the 1990s. From 1999 through 2002 the deal netted the Spirits' owners at least $12.53 million per year; from 2003–2006 their take was at least $15.6 million per year. The two Silna brothers each get 45% of that television revenue per year and their attorney during the merger negotiations, Donald Schupak, receives 10%. They credit their terrific deal to careful planning: the Silnas had expected the Spirits and Colonels to enter the NBA but for the ailing Virginia Squires to be left out, and the Silnas thought up the television revenue deal as a way to treat the Squires' owners fairly if the Squires did not join the NBA with the other ABA teams. Over the past 34 years, the Silnas have collected over $200 million from the NBA, despite the fact that the Spirits never played an NBA game.
The terms of the ABA–NBA merger included the Spirits of St. Louis players being put into a special dispersal draft along with the Kentucky Colonels players.
Marvin BarnesMarvin Jerome Barnes is a former professional American basketball player.As a 6'8" forward for Providence College, Barnes led the nation in rebounding in 1973-74. On December 15, 1973, Barnes scored 52 points against Austin Peay, breaking the single-game school record...
went to the Detroit Pistons for $500,000,
Moses MaloneMoses Eugene Malone is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who starred in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association...
went to the Portland Trail Blazers for $300,000,
Ron BooneRonald Bruce Boone is a retired American Basketball Association player.During his years at Tech High in North Omaha, Nebraska, Boone stood 6'2" and weighed 175 pounds....
went to the Kansas City Kings for $250,000,
Randy DentonRandall Drew Denton is an American former professional basketball player.A 6'10" center from Duke University, Denton played six seasons in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association as a member of the Carolina Cougars, Memphis Pros, Memphis Tams, Utah Stars, Spirits...
went to the New York Knicks for $50,000 and
Mike BarrMichael J. "Mike" Barr is a retired American basketball player.He played collegiately for the Duquesne University Dukes....
went to the Kansas City Kings for $15,000.
The folding of the Spirits dissolved a very talented basketball team, one that likely would have competed successfully in the NBA. Twelve players from the final two Spirits of St. Louis rosters (1974–76) played in the NBA during the 1976–77 season and beyond:
Maurice LucasMaurice Lucas was an American professional basketball player. The first two years of his postcollegiate career were spent in the American Basketball Association with the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels...
,
Ron BooneRonald Bruce Boone is a retired American Basketball Association player.During his years at Tech High in North Omaha, Nebraska, Boone stood 6'2" and weighed 175 pounds....
,
Marvin BarnesMarvin Jerome Barnes is a former professional American basketball player.As a 6'8" forward for Providence College, Barnes led the nation in rebounding in 1973-74. On December 15, 1973, Barnes scored 52 points against Austin Peay, breaking the single-game school record...
,
Caldwell JonesCaldwell "Pops" Jones is a retired American professional basketball player.Jones was drafted from Albany State University by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 14th pick in the 1973 NBA Draft...
,
Lonnie SheltonLonnie Jewel Shelton is a retired American National Basketball Association player who played from 1976-1985. He played college basketball for Oregon State University. Shelton was drafted by the Memphis Sounds of the American Basketball Association in 1975 but elected to stay in college...
,
Steve GreenSteven Michael Green is a retired American professional basketball player. He was a 6'7" and 220 lb small forward and played collegiately at Indiana University where he was first-year head coach Bob Knight's first recruit in 1971...
,
Gus GerardGus Gerard is a retired American professional basketball player who played for the Carolina Cougars and Spirits of St...
,
Moses MaloneMoses Eugene Malone is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who starred in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association...
,
Don AdamsDonald L. Adams is a retired American professional basketball player. He is 6 ft 6 in 210 lb....
,
Don ChaneyDonald Ray Chaney is an American former professional basketball player and coach, most notable for his long stints as a player on the Boston Celtics.-Career as a player:...
,
M. L. CarrMichael Leon Carr is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association, and former head coach and General Manager of the Boston Celtics...
and
Freddie LewisFrederick L. Lewis is a retired American basketball player. He played professionally in the National Basketball Association and now defunct American Basketball Association from 1966 to 1977....
.
Merger terms for the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets and San Antonio Spurs
The NBA imposed cripplingly harsh merger terms on the four ABA refugees.
- The new teams' arrival was treated as an expansion, not a merger. The four remaining ABA teams had to pay a $3.2 million expansion fee to the NBA by September 15, 1976. The NBA also would not recognize ABA records.
- The New York Nets were to pay an additional $4.8 million directly to their in-town rival, the New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, as compensation for "invading" the New York area.
- The four ABA teams would receive no television money at all during their first three seasons in the NBA (1976–1979), and were to pay one seventh of their annual television revenues after that to the owners of the defunct Spirits of St. Louis in perpetuity.
- The four ABA teams would receive no votes related to the distribution of gate receipts or the alignment of NBA divisions for two years.
- The remaining players from the Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits of St. Louis would be made available to NBA teams through a dispersal draft, with superstars such as Artis Gilmore and Moses Malone going to teams other than the four ABA teams.
The indemnities and other penalties were as draconian as the penalties that the AFL teams faced as a consequence of the
AFL-NFL mergerThe AFL–NFL merger of 1970 was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League and the American Football League...
in 1970.
The Nets offered their superstar forward
Julius ErvingJulius Winfield Erving II , commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim....
to the Knicks in return for waiving the $4.8 million territorial penalty fee, but the Knicks declined the offer. Instead, Erving was sold to the
Philadelphia 76ersThe Philadelphia 76ers are a professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . Originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA...
for $3 million. In effect, the Nets traded their franchise player for a berth in the NBA.
Immediate results of the ABA–NBA merger
In the first NBA All Star Game after the merger, 10 of the 24 NBA All Stars were former ABA players.
In the first post-merger season's
NBA FinalsThe 1977 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the 1976-77 NBA season. The Portland Trail Blazers of the Western Conference played against the Philadelphia 76ers of the Eastern Conference, with the 76ers holding home-court advantage. Their 4 regular season meetings had been...
between the
Portland Trail BlazersThe Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
and the
Philadelphia 76ersThe Philadelphia 76ers are a professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . Originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA...
, five of the ten starting players were former ABA players. (Those five starters from the ABA were
Julius ErvingJulius Winfield Erving II , commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim....
,
Caldwell JonesCaldwell "Pops" Jones is a retired American professional basketball player.Jones was drafted from Albany State University by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 14th pick in the 1973 NBA Draft...
,
George McGinnisGeorge F. McGinnis is a retired American professional basketball player, most notably with the Indiana Pacers of the American Basketball Association . He was drafted into the ABA from Indiana University in 1971...
,
Dave TwardzikDavid John Twardzik is a former professional basketball player, a player he was a point guard in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association . He is best known for being a starter on the Portland Trail Blazers team that won the 1977 NBA Finals...
and
Maurice LucasMaurice Lucas was an American professional basketball player. The first two years of his postcollegiate career were spent in the American Basketball Association with the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels...
).
Of the 84 players in the ABA at the time of the merger, 63 played in the NBA during the 1976–77 season. In that first post-merger season, four of the NBA's top ten scorers had come over from the ABA (
Billy KnightWilliam R. "Billy" Knight is an American former professional basketball player who most recently served as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks from 2003–08.Knight grew up in Braddock, a suburb of Pittsburgh, where he...
,
David ThompsonDavid O'Neil Thompson is a former American professional basketball star with the Denver Nuggets of both the National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association , as well as the Seattle SuperSonics...
,
Dan IsselDaniel Paul Issel is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player and coach.-Collegiate playing career:...
and
George GervinGeorge "The Iceman" Gervin is a retired American professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association for the Virginia Squires, San Antonio Spurs, and Chicago Bulls...
).
Don BuseDonald R. Buse is a retired American professional basketball player.A 6'4" guard from the University of Evansville, Buse played 13 seasons in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association as a member of the Indiana Pacers, the Phoenix Suns, the Portland Trail Blazers,...
, who joined the NBA with the Pacers, led the NBA in both steals and assists during that first post-merger season. The Spirits of St. Louis'
Moses MaloneMoses Eugene Malone is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who starred in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association...
finished third in rebounding; the Kentucky Colonels' Artis Gilmore was fourth. Gilmore and his former Colonels teammate Caldwell Jones were both among the top five in the NBA in blocked shots.
Tom NissalkeThomas Edward "Tom" Nissalke is a retired former American professional basketball coach in the NBA and American Basketball Association...
left the ABA to coach the NBA's
Houston RocketsThe Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
in the first post-merger season and won the Midwest Division; Nissalke was named NBA Coach of the Year. Former Kentucky Colonels coach
Hubie BrownHubert Jude "Hubie" Brown is a retired American basketball coach and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years...
took over the NBA's
Atlanta HawksThe Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...
, and the four former ABA teams kept their coaches as they entered the NBA.
Denver Nuggets
In 1974, Denver changed its name from the Denver Rockets to the Denver Nuggets in anticipation of the ABA–NBA merger, because the NBA already had a team called the
Houston RocketsThe Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
.
In their first NBA season the Nuggets - a team that had never won an ABA championship - finished with the league's second best record, 50-32, and won the Midwest Division. In their second NBA season the Nuggets repeated as Midwest Division champions, and in their third season the Nuggets missed a third consecutive division title by a single game. Although the financial and draft penalties caused the team to slip a little bit after coach
Larry BrownLawrence Harvey "Larry" Brown is an American basketball coach and former player. He most recently served as head coach of the National Basketball Association's Charlotte Bobcats....
's departure, the Nuggets would remain an NBA power throughout the 1980s.
San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs, who could never get past the first round of the ABA playoffs before the merger, won NBA division titles in five of their first six NBA seasons. This was in spite of the financial and draft penalties imposed on the team. The Spurs then went through a period of decline in the late 1980s, but rebounded in the 1990s, and in 1999 became the first (and to date, the only) former ABA team to win a NBA Championship. They have since won three more NBA titles, in 2003, 2005 and 2007. In 2003, the NBA Finals matched two former ABA teams, the Spurs and the New Jersey Nets.
Indiana Pacers
The Pacers joined the NBA on very weak financial footing; they had been in worse financial shape than the Kentucky Colonels, who did not join the NBA. The team had actually been forced to start unloading their stars during the last ABA season. After their first NBA season the Pacers resorted to broadcasting a telethon in order to survive financially into their second NBA season. In part thanks to the telethon the Pacers' average attendance jumped from 7,615 during the 1976-77 season, their first in the NBA, to 10,982 during the 1977-78 season.
The Pacers finished their inaugural NBA season with a record of 36-46. Pacers
Billy KnightWilliam R. "Billy" Knight is an American former professional basketball player who most recently served as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks from 2003–08.Knight grew up in Braddock, a suburb of Pittsburgh, where he...
and
Don BuseDonald R. Buse is a retired American professional basketball player.A 6'4" guard from the University of Evansville, Buse played 13 seasons in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association as a member of the Indiana Pacers, the Phoenix Suns, the Portland Trail Blazers,...
represented Indiana in the NBA All-Star Game. However, this was one of the few bright spots of the Pacers' first 13 years in the NBA. During this time, they had only three non-losing seasons and only two playoff appearances. Finally overcoming the draft and financial penalties imposed in the merger, the Pacers won NBA division championships in 1994, 1995, 1998 and 1999 and reached the
NBA FinalsThe NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association . The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....
in 2000.
New York Nets
The Nets, severely handicapped by the onerous financial penalties placed upon the team, were forced to sell Julius Erving to the
Philadelphia 76ersThe Philadelphia 76ers are a professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . Originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA...
.
Nate ArchibaldNathaniel "Nate" Archibald is a former American professional basketball player. He spent 14 years playing in the NBA, most notably with the Kansas City Kings and Boston Celtics....
, the one bright spot left on the roster, broke his foot and the Nets finished their first NBA season at 22—60, the worst record in the league. After that first NBA season the Nets moved to
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and had a few more weak seasons there before finally improving in the early 1980s as they overcame the financial penalties imposed during the merger. By 1984 the Nets were making the NBA playoffs and by 2002 the Nets finally made the NBA Finals, losing to the
Los Angeles LakersThe Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
. They made it to the NBA Finals again in 2003, this time losing to the ABA's San Antonio Spurs.
Nets' owner Roy Boe said of the merger, "The merger agreement killed the Nets as an NBA franchise . . . . The merger agreement got us into the NBA, but it forced me to destroy the team by selling Erving to pay the bill."
ABA Dispersal Draft, 1976
The rosters of the Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis were put into a special
dispersal draftA dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when their current team goes out of business, consolidates with another team, or for some other reason ceases to exist. Since most sports drafts are held in North America, this is where most dispersal drafts...
in 1976.
|
= All-Star |
|
= Hall of Fame |
Round One
| Pick |
Player |
Nationality |
NBA Team |
ABA Team |
Purchase Price |
| 1 |
Artis Gilmore Artis Gilmore is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association...
(C) |
|
Chicago BullsThe Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
|
Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
|
$1,100,000 |
| 2 |
Maurice Lucas Maurice Lucas was an American professional basketball player. The first two years of his postcollegiate career were spent in the American Basketball Association with the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels...
(PF) |
|
Portland Trail BlazersThe Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
(from AtlantaThe Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...
) |
Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...
|
$300,000 |
| 3 |
Ron Boone Ronald Bruce Boone is a retired American Basketball Association player.During his years at Tech High in North Omaha, Nebraska, Boone stood 6'2" and weighed 175 pounds....
(PG) |
|
Kansas City KingsThe Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
|
Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...
|
$250,000 |
| 4 |
Marvin Barnes Marvin Jerome Barnes is a former professional American basketball player.As a 6'8" forward for Providence College, Barnes led the nation in rebounding in 1973-74. On December 15, 1973, Barnes scored 52 points against Austin Peay, breaking the single-game school record...
(C) |
|
Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
|
Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...
|
$500,000 |
| 5 |
Moses Malone Moses Eugene Malone is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who starred in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association...
(C) |
|
Portland Trail BlazersThe Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
|
Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...
|
$350,000 |
| 6 |
Randy Denton Randall Drew Denton is an American former professional basketball player.A 6'10" center from Duke University, Denton played six seasons in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association as a member of the Carolina Cougars, Memphis Pros, Memphis Tams, Utah Stars, Spirits...
(PG) |
|
New York KnicksThe New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
|
Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...
|
$50,000 |
| 7 |
William Averitt William Rodney "Bird" Averitt is a retired American basketball player.He played collegiately for Pepperdine University...
(PG) |
|
Buffalo BravesThe Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
(from MilwaukeeThe Milwaukee Bucks are a professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. They are part of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, and currently plays at the Bradley Center....
) |
Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
|
$125,000 |
| 8 |
Wil Jones Wilbert "Wil" Jones is an American former professional basketball player.A 6'8" forward from Albany State University, Jones was drafted in the fifth round of the 1969 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers and by the Miami Floridians in the 1969 ABA Draft.Jones played seven seasons in the American...
(PF) |
|
Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
|
Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
|
$50,000 |
| 9 |
Ron Thomas Ron Thomas played basketball at both the college and professional level in the United States.Thomas, after graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in Louisville, played college basketball at the University of Louisville.Thomas was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA in the 6th round...
(SF) |
|
Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
|
Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
|
$15,000 |
| 10 |
Louie Dampier Louis "Louie" Dampier is a retired American professional basketball player.A 6-foot-tall guard, Dampier is one of only a handful of men to play all nine seasons in the American Basketball Association , all with the Kentucky Colonels...
(PG) |
|
San Antonio SpursThe San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
|
Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
|
$20,000 |
| 11 |
Jan van Breda Kolff (SF) |
|
New York NetsThe New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
|
Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
|
$60,000 |
3-point field goal
The
three-point field goalA three-point field goal is a field goal in a basketball game, made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc radiating from the basket...
was used in the ABA; the NBA originally disparaged it, but eventually adopted it.
Angelo Drossos, owner of the San Antonio Spurs: "When the leagues merged, the NBA moguls didn't want the 3-point shot.
Red AuerbachArnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach was an American basketball coach of the Washington Capitols, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks and the Boston Celtics. After he retired from coaching, he served as president and front office executive of the Celtics until his death...
hated it and said the
CelticsThe Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
would never go along with it. He had everybody up in arms against the play. Of course, a few years later Red drafted
Larry BirdLarry Joe Bird is a former American NBA basketball player and coach. Drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, spearheading one of the NBA's most formidable frontcourts that included center Robert Parish...
and suddenly he was all for it. And suddenly one of the bigger attractions at the All-Star Game is the 3-point shootout."
Slam Dunk Contest
The ABA originated the idea of the slam dunk contest at the 1976 ABA All Star Game; the NBA subsequently adopted it. The slam dunk contest has ever since been a major part of the NBA's All Star Weekend (with the exception of 1998 and 1999).
Pressing and trapping defenses
Pressing and trapping defenses, not used in the slower-tempo NBA, were common in the ABA, and after the merger began to play a larger role in the NBA.
Billy CunninghamWilliam John "Billy" Cunningham is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid.- Beginnings :...
, Philadelphia 76ers star: "When the Knicks were pressing and shooting 3-pointers and all of that under
Rick PitinoRick Pitino is an American basketball coach. Since 2001, he has been the head coach at the University of Louisville. He has also served as head coach at Boston University, Providence College and the University of Kentucky, leading that program to the NCAA championship in 1996...
, people acted as if that was something new. Hey, half the teams in the ABA played like that."
Hubie BrownHubert Jude "Hubie" Brown is a retired American basketball coach and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years...
, former head coach of the Kentucky Colonels, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks and Memphis Grizzlies: "We (the ABA) were ahead of the NBA in so many different ways. We had the 3-point play. The NBA said it was a gimmick; now it's one of the most exciting parts of the pro game . . . . About everything we did in the ABA they do now in the NBA except they didn't take our red, white and blue ball."
Faster pace of play
The ABA had a far faster pace than the NBA, and this carried over into the NBA after the merger; today's NBA game is largely derived from the ABA. Longtime Denver Nuggets head coach and ABA alum
Doug MoeDouglas Edwin Moe is an American professional basketball coach. He is most closely associated with the Denver Nuggets franchise....
, who also coached the Philadelphia 76ers, has commented, "The NBA now plays our (the ABA's) kind of basketball."
Drafting of underclassmen
Prior to the ABA, the NBA did not allow college underclassmen to enter the league. In 1969 the ABA's Denver Rockets signed
Spencer HaywoodSpencer Haywood is a retired American professional basketball player.- High school :In 1964, Haywood moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he attended Pershing High School...
, a sophomore star at the University of Detroit who had played on the 1968 United States Olympic basketball team. The NCAA sued, but Haywood and the ABA prevailed. Julius Erving and George Gervin also joined the ABA's
Virginia SquiresThe Virginia Squires were a basketball franchise in the former American Basketball Association from 1970 until just before the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.-In Oakland :...
as underclassmen, as did
Jim ChonesJames Bernett Chones is an American former professional basketball player.A 6'11" forward/center, Chones starred at Marquette University, where he earned All-America honors as a junior in 1972 after averaging 20.5 points and 11.9 rebounds per game...
going from
Marquette UniversityMarquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...
to the New York Nets,
George McGinnisGeorge F. McGinnis is a retired American professional basketball player, most notably with the Indiana Pacers of the American Basketball Association . He was drafted into the ABA from Indiana University in 1971...
from
Indiana UniversityIndiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
to the Indiana Pacers and
Ralph SimpsonRalph Derek Simpson is a retired American basketball player. He played professionally in the ABA and NBA from 1970 to 1980....
from
Michigan StateMichigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
to the Denver Rockets.
Moses MaloneMoses Eugene Malone is a retired American Hall of Fame basketball player who starred in both the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association...
joined the ABA's
Utah StarsThe Utah Stars was an American Basketball Association team based in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround.-History:...
straight out of high school. Eventually after the merger the NBA followed suit and the drafting of college underclassmen became common in that league and high school players were also selected in subsequent NBA drafts.
Legacy
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member Julius Erving
Julius Winfield Erving II , commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped launch a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim....
: "In my mind, the NBA has just become a bigger version of the ABA. They play the style of game that we did. They sell their stars like we did. The only difference is that they have more resources and can do it on a much grander scale than we in the ABA ever could."
- Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...
, San Antonio SpursThe San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
and Philadelphia 76ersThe Philadelphia 76ers are a professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association . Originally known as the Syracuse Nationals, they are one of the oldest franchises in the NBA...
head coachA head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
Doug MoeDouglas Edwin Moe is an American professional basketball coach. He is most closely associated with the Denver Nuggets franchise....
: "One of the biggest disappointments in my life was going into the NBA after the merger. The NBA was a rinky-dink league - listen, I'm very serious about this. The league was run like garbage. There was no camaraderie; a lot of the NBA guys were aloof and thought they were too good to practice or play hard. The NBA All-Star Games were nothing - guys didn't even want to play in them and the fans could [sic] care less about the games. It wasn't until the 1980s, when David SternDavid Joel Stern is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel, and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984 succeeding Larry O'Brien...
became commissioner, that the NBA figured out what the hell they were doing, and what they did was a lot of stuff we had in the ABA - from the 3-point shot to All-Star weekend to the show biz stuff. Now the NBA is like the old ABA. Guys play hard, they show their enthusiasm and there is a closeness in the league. Hell, the ABA might have lost the battle, but we won the war. The NBA now plays our kind of basketball."
- Sportswriter Bob Ryan
Bob Ryan is an American sportswriter for The Boston Globe. He has been described as "the quintessential American sportswriter" and a basketball guru and is well known for his coverage of the sport including his famous stories covering the Boston Celtics in the 1970s. After graduating from Boston...
: "When writers such as Jim O'Brien and Peter Vescey wrote that the two leagues were very close, that some ABA teams were among the top five of all pro basketball teams, I thought they had no objectivity and that they were too close to the teams they were writing about to really understand pro basketball. Then came the merger, and Denver and San Antonio won division titles. What could I say? Guys like Jim O'Brien were right."
See also
- American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
- National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
- Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...
- Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
- New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
- San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
- Kentucky Colonels
The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did...
- Spirits of St. Louis
The Spirits of St. Louis were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the American Basketball Association that did not survive the ABA-NBA merger. They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St...
- Virginia Squires
The Virginia Squires were a basketball franchise in the former American Basketball Association from 1970 until just before the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.-In Oakland :...
- Oscar Robertson suit
Robertson v. National Basketball Association, 556 F.2d 682 , was an antitrust lawsuit filed by American basketball player Oscar Robertson against the National Basketball Association.- Overview :...
- AFL-NFL merger
The AFL–NFL merger of 1970 was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League and the American Football League...
- NHL–WHA merger
The 1979 merger of the NHL and WHA was the culmination of several years of negotiations between the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association that resulted in four WHA franchises joining the NHL as expansion franchises for the 1979–80 season...
- All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations...
Sources
- Pluto, Terry, Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association (Simon & Schuster, 1990), ISBN 978-1-4165-4061-8
- Ray Kennedy, A Celtic Rookie Puts It Together: First-year Commissioner Larry O'Brien used his Irish gift of gab to lead the NBA owners into a merger with the ABA, Sports Illustrated, October 25, 1976
- Pattison, Dan, Count Dracula Has Struck, January 1976
External links