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The ABA–NBA merger was a major pro sports business maneuver in 1976 when the American Basketball Association (ABA) combined with the National Basketball Association (NBA), after multiple attempts over several years. The NBA and ABA had entered merger talks as early as 1970, but an antitrust suit filed by the head of the NBA players union ...
The Spurs made it into the 1975 ABA Playoffs, but the Spurs would lose 4–3 to the New York Nets in the ABA Semifinals. Despite never winning a playoff series in the ABA, the Spurs would be admitted to the NBA along with the Indiana Pacers, the New York Nets, and the Denver Nuggets.
The league succeeded in forcing a merger with the NBA in the 1976 offseason. Four ABA teams were absorbed into the older league: the New York Nets, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and San Antonio Spurs. As part of the merger agreement, the four teams were not permitted to participate in the 1976 NBA draft.
The 1976 ABA Playoffs opened with the Kentucky Colonels defeating the Indiana Pacers 2 games to 1 in the quarterfinals. The Colonels then lost a seven-game semifinal series to the #1 seeded Denver Nuggets, 4 games to 3. The other semifinal saw the New York Nets outlast the San Antonio Spurs 4 games to 3.
The NBA welcomed the four ABA teams whose rabid fan bases made them legitimate NBA cities: the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers, the New Jersey Nets and the San Antonio Spurs.
Ozzie (December 27, 1932 – April 26, 2016 [1]) and Daniel (born August 26, 1944 [citation needed]) Silna are American businessmen of Latvian descent [2] [3] best known for their success in the textile industry, as well as being co-owners of the American Basketball Association's Spirits of St. Louis and the lucrative deal cut to fold that team during the ABA-NBA merger.
The other ABA teams from the prior season were all folded prior to the ABA–NBA merger: the Baltimore Claws, Utah Stars, San Diego Sails and Virginia Squires. The Spurs made their debut on October 22 stunning the 76ers in Philadelphia by a score of 121–118. [ 2 ]
Four ABA franchises joined the NBA: the New York Nets, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Denver Nuggets. The other ABA teams had folded prior to the merger, except for the Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis, both of whose players were picked up by NBA teams in the ABA dispersal draft. The league adopts a balanced schedule.