History
On February 1, 1967, promoter Dennis Murphy announced that he and a group of investors had formed the American Basketball Association, to begin play that fall with ten teams: The Anaheim Amigos, Dallas Chaparrals, Houston Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Minnesota Muskies, New Jersey Americans, New Orleans Buccaneers, Oakland Oaks, Pittsburgh Pipers, and a still unnamed team in Kansas City.
As it turned out, the Kansas City team was replaced by the Denver Rockets (later the Nuggets), and the ABA added an 11th franchise, the Kentucky Colonels, in March.
The NBA's first great star, George Mikan, was named commissioner of the new league. Mikan came up with the idea of using a red, white, and blue ball. The ABA's also decided to use the three-point shot that had been pioneered by the short-lived American Basketball League.
The first real confrontation with the NBA came in 1968, when Oakland signed Rick Barry of the San Francisco Warriors, who had led the NBA in scoring in 1966-67. A court ruled that Barry had to honor the option clause in his contract. He did that simply by sitting out the 1967-68 season and then helped lead Oakland to the ABA title the following year.
In 1969, the ABA adopted a controversial "hardship rule," allowing teams to sign college undergraduates who did demonstrate an immediate financial need to leave school and play professionally. Under that rule, Spencer Haywood left the University of Detroit after his sophomore year to play for Denver. Haywood, who had led the 1968 U. S. Olympic team to a gold medal, was the league's rookie of the year and most valuable player in 1969-70.
The ABA also got its first network television contract that season. Jack Dolph, who replaced Mikan as commissioner, had previously worked for CBS, and he persuaded his former network to televise the ABA's All-Star game and some of its playoff games.
With competition for college stars driving up costs, the NBA and ABA began merger talks in 1970 and reached a tentative agreement. However, the NBA Players Association brought suit on anti-trust grounds and a federal court issued a restraining order that blocked the proposed merger.
The battle for players escalated, and the ABA did well in 1971, signing three consensus college All-Americans: Dan Issel of Kentucky, Rick Mount of Purdue, and Charlie Scott of North Carolina. The newer league also landed All-Americans Artis Gilmore of Jacksonville, Jim McDaniels of Western Kentucky, and John Roche of South Carolina, as well as three hardship cases, Julius Erving of Massachusetts, Johnny Neumann of Mississippi, and George McGinnis of Indiana, in 1972.
However, McDaniels, Scott, and Erving signed future contracts with NBA teams, touching off several legal battles, including a $6 million anti-trust suit against the NBA that was filed by the ABA in March of 1972.
Most ABA owners had anticipated an early merger with the NBA and weren't prepared for the long, drawn-out siege that took place. A bill to exempt the merger from anti-trust regulation stalled in congress and ABA teams began to fall by the wayside as their owners ran out of money.
By the beginning of the 1975-76 season, there were only nine teams left. The San Diego and Utah franchises folded before the All-Star game, leaving just seven, and the end was in sight.
In the summer of 1976, four of the remaining ABA teams, Denver, Indiana, New York, and San Antonio, joined the NBA, at the price of $3.2 million apiece. The New York Nets also had to pay the New York Knickerbockers $4 million for invading the NBA team's market.
Players from the other three franchises were distributed in a special draft.
