NBA
OTD in 1976: The NBA-ABA Merger Officially Commenced
June 17, 1976: The American Basketball Association completed its merger with the NBA after a 6-year delay due to an ongoing lawsuit
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The American Basketball Association (ABA) was one of many leagues that popped up in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Like the American Football League (AFL), it would eventually merge with its larger competitor, in its case the NBA. Merging, however, was in the ABA’s plans from early on. Purchasing teams in the new league was relatively cheap, and prospective owners were sold on the idea that, in the event of a merger, the value of their investments would skyrocket. Only six teams remained by the end of its existence with four of which getting absorbed into the NBA that officiated the 1976 merger.
The ABA-NBA MERGER WAS OFFICIALLY FINALIZED AFTER 4 ABA TEAMS JOINED THE NBA IN 1976
The ABA was established in 1967, offering fans a greater spectacle than they might find in the NBA. They played a faster-paced style that, unlike its competitor at that time, included a three-point shot. The league had a total of twelve franchises in its history that frequently changed home cities and names. By 1976, the existing teams were the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Kentucky Colonels, and Spirits of St. Louis. The latter two would not transfer into the NBA as part of the merger.
The ABA-NBA merger would have taken place as early as 1970 if it was not for an anti-trust lawsuit from the president of the NBA Players Association, Oscar Robertson. Robertson sought to prevent the joining of leagues from occurring and to provide players the ability to choose what teams they would play for. The result of the suit delayed the merger six years. It brought many changes including the addition of the three-point shot to the NBA, the dunk contest to the All-Star game, and the NBA debut of ABA stars Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Rick Barry, Moses Malone, and many others.
June 17, 1976: 4 former ABA teams (#Nets, #Spurs, #Pacers, and #Nuggets) joined the NBA, marking the official NBA-ABA merger which brought the NBA’s total to 22 teams pic.twitter.com/ElwNrFa54l
— Pro Sports Outlook (@PSO_Sports) June 17, 2021
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