Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The American Basketball Association

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

One of the most compelling stories in American professional sports is the rise of the American Basketball Association or the ABA. Founded in 1967, the ABA emerged as a rival to the NBA, which had become predictable and stale. The ABA emerged as a flamboyant contrast.  Fans packed tiny gyms to watch the ABA shatter NBA norms, showcasing epic afros, brilliant dunks, a three-point shot, and an iconic red, white, and blue ball. Learn more about the American Basketball Association on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Mint Mobile Get your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Discord Server: https://discord.gg/Ds7Rx7jvPJ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most compelling stories in American professional sports is the rise of the American Basketball Association, or the ABA. Founded in 1967, the ABA emerged as a rival to the NBA, which had become predictable and stale. The ABA emerged as a flamboyant contrast. Fans packed into tiny gyms to watch the ABA shatter the NBA norms, showcasing brilliant dunks, a three-point shot, and an iconic red, white, and blue ball. Learn more about the American Basketball Association on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Fear is the virus is trending on TikTok. Vaccines are poison.

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nine out of ten titles during the decade. NBA parody was at an all-time low as the Celtics ran rough shot over the entire league. The NBA had slipped well behind baseball and football in fan interest. And by the late 1960s, the time was right for a change. The American Basketball Association was formed by 11 pioneering owners who made a bold bet on themselves. With only a $5,000 investment per franchise, a fraction of the MBA's fee, they launched an exciting new league. Their goal was to create a product compelling enough to eventually force the MBA into a highly lucrative merger. The ABA was a classic buy-low, sell-high scheme, but to pull off the scheme, they needed to fill seats and generate buzz. Part of the plan was to establish franchises in non-traditional markets to expand

professional basketball's reach. The challenge of making this work was much harder, and the league experienced financial difficulties throughout its entire existence. The ABA didn't have a TV contract, so all of their revenue came from ticket sales, which was difficult because they often had to rent small arenas or high school gyms. Those teams that survived saw their financial gamble pay off, and perhaps the greatest story of the ABA's financial difficulties and successes, were Ozzy and Daniel Silna, the owners of the St. Louis spirits. The Silnas pulled off arguably the greatest deal in the history of professional sports.

The spirits were typical of an ABA franchise. The team was a charter member of the league joining as the Houston Mavericks, They were then forced to relocate to North Carolina in 1969, where they played as the Carolina Cougars. Then in 1974, the team relocated to St. Louis seeking to capitalize on the much larger TV market. The Silna brothers bought the franchise in St. Louis for the hefty sum of $1 million. The business-savvy brothers were holding out for an MBA offer that never came. While at first, their inability to join the NBA may seem like a failure, what they ultimately secured was far, far better.

The ABA-NBA merger agreement in 1976 forced them to dissolve their franchise, and for this they accepted a fee of $200,000, in addition to $2.2 million for the rights to the team's players. However, the most striking aspect of the agreement was the one-seventh share of the television contract granted to the four ABA teams that joined the NBA. in perpetuity. As the NBA popularity grew over the years, so did the purse pay to the Silna brothers. By the time the Silna brothers reached a buyout agreement with the MBA in 2014, that TV share had generated more than $800 million. The ABA strategy was to use the

playbook that the American Football League used to great success. The AFL had established a rival League to the National Football League to force a merger. To entice the NBA to merge, the ABA had to create enthusiasm that drew the attention and concern of the NBA, and the ABA figured out the perfect formula. The first strategy that separated the ABA from the NBA was its rules on player acquisition. The NBA had a longstanding agreement with the NCAA that mandated that players had to complete their college eligibility before they were eligible for the NBFRA. draft. While this agreement was great for the college game, it put the NBA at a disadvantage

if a rival league emerged with different rules. The ABA allowed players to join before completing their college eligibility. They established a hardship rule. A player could be drafted into the ABA before completing their eligibility if they had experienced financial hardship. Spencer Haywood became the first player to join the ABA under these rules when he left Detroit Mercy in 1969 after his sophomore season. Haywood made it count. He was rookie of the year and the MVP in his one ABA season, averaging and astonishing 30 points and 19.5 rebounds per game. After dominating the ABA, Haywood had contract issues of his own with the Denver Rockets and left the league to sign an NBA contract with the Seattle Supersonic. For Haywood to join the NBA, he had to fight a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Haywood won his case, played 14 seasons, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. The ABA allowed younger players to shine at the professional level and didn't stand in the way of their joining the NBA, so more players were now eager to follow Haywood's path. Haywood's court victory had provided the NBA with a very limited window for college players. They had to prove financial hardship. But the ABA rules were much more flexible regarding underclassmen. These rules allowed the A.BA to win the rights to legendary talents, such as Julius Irving, aka Dr. J., George the Iceman Gervin, and Moses Malone.

Malone's case was even more revolutionary in that he joined the ABA straight out of high school, paving the way for future players such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. The second strategy to make the ABA stand out was the three-point shot. The Los Angeles and Minneapolis Lakers legend George Miken, the first commissioner of the ABA, believed the three-point shot was like a home run and included it in the ABA's rules from day one. The NBA had long viewed the three-point shot as a gimmick, even after the ABA merger, but it finally relented and added it in 1979. The three-point shot added excitement to the game,

and space to the offensive schemes. Defenses had to respect the shot which opened up more space for the offenses to operate. The greatest beneficiary of the rule was the incomparable Rick Berry. Barry had been an all-star in his first two NBA seasons for the San Francisco Warriors after the franchise moved from Philadelphia. His second NBA season saw him average 36 points per game and led the league in scoring. But his third season had to wait. Frustrated by the league's salary structure, Barry jumped to the ABA's Oakland Oaks.

This was a huge breakthrough in the league's battle for credibility. Barry sat out a season due to a court battle, but when he emerged, he added more excitement and juice to the ABA brand, particularly with his shooting. Barry led the league in scoring in his first year, nearly matching his NBA stat line at 34 points per game. He thrived on hitting deep jump shots and proved that the three-point shot was no gimmick and could revolutionize basketball. But perhaps the most defining thing about the ABA that most people remember was the ball itself, which was red, white, and blue. The ball was a statement of the ABA's independence from the NBA. The final strategy employed by the ABA to generate

excitement came from its cultural attitude. The ABA's vibe stood in stark contrasts. to the NBA. The NBA functioned more as a conservative institution. The ABA leaned into the social and cultural movements of the day. The NBA insisted that its players adopt a more traditional ethos and dress and hairstyle and discourage players from seeking opportunities to stand out for reasons outside of basketball. The league's premier coaches like Red Arbach insisted on a more clean-cut look and discouraged players from showboating. The ABA was the complete antithesis. The ABA was the complete antithesis. of this. Players entered the arenas in exciting outfits, took the floor with trendy 1970s afro hairstyles, and warmed up to the blaring hits of Motown. Their league's coaches wore outlandish

suits and sweaters and indulged their athletes flamboyance on the court. Adding to the excitement, the league even saw occasional hockey-style fights break out. The ABA also started the most iconic fashion statement in basketball history, the sneaker. ABA players wore a diverse range of brands and vibrant colors and broke the grip that Chuck Taylor All-Stars had on the NBA. The ABA also became known for pushing social boundaries. When Ellie Brown was appointed chairperson of the Kentucky Colonels, she became the first female executive in professional sports history. She took it one step further by appointing an all-female board of directors. The result was a massive increase in ticket sales and the colonel's only championship.

The ABA also cultivated a strong relationship with the black community in America and demonstrated that it was a place where black athletes were treated fairly and with dignity. The ABA had the highest percentage of black athletes in any professional sports league. The recent Amazon Prime series Soul Power explores how the league became a showcase for black culture of the time. George Carl, the legendary NBA coach and ABA player and producer of the series, offered this characterization. He said, quote, I thought the ABA was a godsend for sports, but especially for basketball and especially for the black athlete. One manifestation of this is the story of Connie Hawkins. Wrongly accused of

participation in a betting scandal, Hawkins was forced out of college and professional basketball for 10 years. His exile finally ended when the Pittsburgh Piper's signed him in 1967. Hawkins produced an MVP season and an ABA title in an astonishing two ABA seasons. The League also afforded him the resources to launch a successful lawsuit against the NBA and the platform to prove his remarkable talents belonged at the highest level of basketball. The Connie Hawkins story was one of injustice, and the ABA's opening its door to him was a clear sign to Black Americans that the League was doing things differently. It turns out that the league had one more trick up its sleeve, one that connected it with the

playground culture of basketball in urban areas. The slam dunk. Connie Hawkins turned the slam dunk into a basketball sensation. While NBA players certainly could dunk, it was not part of the league's more buttoned-up ethos in the 1960s and 70s. While the NBA stressed fundamentals and less showboating, the slam dunk fit perfectly in the ABA. The ABA featured some of the most legendary dunkers in basketball history. Few players could dunk with the athleticism skill and flair of the ABA's duo of David Thompson

and Dr. J. The two possessed such extraordinary athleticism and leaping ability that their dunk highlights are still watched today. Thompson could reportedly touch the top of the backboard, and Irving's slam dunk from the free throw line in the 1976 dunk contest became a part of ABA lore. Dr. J had been the ABA's brightest star, and it showed in the gate receipts for the games of the New York Nets. Dr. J. was a cultural icon, and arguably the greatest in professional sports at that time in the mid-1970s.

Today, the NBA All-Star game has become a weekend-long celebration of the sport and a showcase of players' remarkable skill and athleticism. Before the ABA, the NBA, the NBA All-Star game was regulated to a boring Tuesday night slot. The ABA added a touch of flamboyance and glitz to the event. They moved it to the weekend and in 1976 added the slam dunk contest. One by Irving with Thompson as the runner-up, the slam dunk contest later became a fixture in the NBA. In 1976, the NBA finally relented. Four teams, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs, the Denver Nuggets, and the New York Nets were all absorbed into the NBA.

While the ABA disappeared, its spirit and vibe became essential to the NBA's new identity. From the three-point line to the dunk contest, the MBA learned valuable lessons from the ABA. It's hard to even think of the NBA without slam dunks or three-point shots. But the only reason they're there are due to a group of owners who took a risk back in 1967 and in the process revolutionized the sport of basketball. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research in writing for this episode is provided by Joel Hermanson.

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