the nba and the aba merged in 1975.
the nba and the aba merged in 1975.
when did the nba and the aba merge?
1975
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 u.s. senate 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 storen, with part of his focus being the eventual merger of the two leagues as equals. alex hannum, 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 afl commissioner al davis 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.
aba–nba merger
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 supersonics owner sam schulman, 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 angeles to compete directly with the lakers. the owners of the dallas chaparrals (now the nba's san antonio spurs) 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.
aba–nba merger