American Basketball Association

The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association throughout its existence. The second of two leagues established in the 1960s after the American Basketball League, the ABA was the more successful rival to the NBA.

The league started with eleven teams; the Indiana Pacers, Kentucky Colonels, Minnesota Muskies, New Jersey Americans, and Pittsburgh Pipers were placed in the Eastern Division and the Anaheim Amigos, Dallas Chaparrals, Denver Rockets, Houston Mavericks, New Orleans Buccaneers, and Oakland Oaks in the Western Division. George Mikan served as the first league commissioner and came up with the idea for the three-point shot to go along with a 30-second shot clock. Echoing the NHL, the league named a Most Valuable Player for the entire postseason rather than for just the Finals. Select investors believed they could play their way into getting an NBA franchise by way of a merger, while Mikan did not initially want to get into a bidding war with the NBA for select players.

While the first years of the ABA saw uneven team management (the first two champions immediately relocated after winning the championship), the offense-oriented league managed to attract select talent from players that were either ignored by the NBA, due to perceived talent issues, or because they were not eligible to play in the league. Stars that arose from these circumstances included Connie Hawkins, Roger Brown, and Doug Moe, who each had been blackballed from the NBA due to unfounded allegations of point-shaving, Spencer Haywood, who entered the league as a "hardship exemption" after wanting to turn pro following his sophomore season in college, and Larry Brown, who was thought to be too small to play in the NBA.

The league never had a consistent national television contract, but attracted loyal followings in select cities, most notably in Indianapolis, Denver, San Antonio, Uniondale, and Kentucky. The Pacers would win the most championships in league history, winning three with stars such as Mel Daniels, the first player with multiple MVP awards.

The ABA and NBA engaged in talks for a merger as early as 1970, but an antitrust lawsuit filed by the NBA Players Association curtailed the plans for several years. The league went after select NBA stars such as Rick Barry and Billy Cunningham to go along with luring players with a select payment plan by annuity to go along with luring respected NBA referees to the league. In the later years of the league, other stars would arise such as Dan Issel, Artis Gilmore, George Gervin, and Julius Erving. By the end of the 1975–76 season, the league was down to seven teams, with only six surviving long enough to be involved in merger talks. The ABA merged with the NBA in 1976, resulting in four teams (Pacers, Nuggets, Spurs, and Nets) joining the NBA. The final game was played on May 13, 1976, as the New York Nets defeated the Denver Nuggets for the final ABA championship. In 1979, adopting the practice of the ABA, the NBA introduced the 3-point shot.