The 1973-74 season would be the last season with 2 leagues as the Oscar Robertson suit was settled in early 1974 after a compromise bill was settled between the Owners and the Players with the help of the US Senate as there was not yet unrestricted free agency as there is now but there would have to be compensation offered if a team signed another team’s player. With that settled the 2 leagues merged in April 1974 with 6 teams being accepted into the NBA there were the New York Nets, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets who changed their name from the Rockets at the end of the 74 season, Utah Stars, San Antonio Spurs and the Kentucky Colonels with all of the other teams being bought out and all of the players from those teams being placed in a dispersal draft to be allocated to all of the other teams in the NBA.
The terms of the merger included
- The new teams' arrival was treated as an expansion, not a merger. The six remaining ABA teams had to pay a $3.2 million expansion fee to the NBA by September 15, 1974.
- The New York Nets were to pay an additional $4.8 million indemnity directly to their in-town rival, the New York Knicks, as compensation for "invading" the New York area.
- The four ABA teams would receive no votes related to the distribution of gate receipts or the alignment of NBA divisions for one year.
- The remaining players from all of the other ABA teams would be made available to NBA teams through a dispersal draft including the ABA teams who were included in the merger
- The 1974 NBA Draft would be available to all teams in the new NBA.
- The NBA Would adopt the 3 point line at the beginning of the 1974-75 season
As the league's had now merged the new NBA had to sign their next television contract and they decided to sign with CBS for the next 4 seasons which angered the ABC executive at the time Roone Arlidge who would take revenge.
The 1974 NBA Draft was held on the 28th May 1974 and the 6 ABA teams would be included in the draft with their picks being from 19th to 24th in the draft at the end of the 1st round and the former ABA teams got some good players in this range with Indiana still getting Billy Knight with the 21st pick and the Utah Stars getting Truck Robinson with the 22nd pick in the draft Another notable pick in this draft was of the very first high schooler to enter the NBA Moses Malone who was selected 4th overall by the Phoenix Suns as they were still looking for a center and felt he was worth the time that it would take to develop his game. Also due to these changes Philadelphila selected John Drew with the 25th pick and the Houston Rockets selected Phil Smith with the 29th pick. Milwaukee ended up taking Brian Winters with the 12th pick instead of the Lakers who with the 14th pick selected Maurice Lucas to be their new power forward.
The dispersal draft took place on the 5th August 1974 with not many players being taken who would change the landscape of the league as it was mainly role players who comprised the teams that didn't make the NBA.
Rick Barry would be forced to leave the New York Nets due to the financial indemnity they had incurred on the Knicks and ironically after the Knicks had taken Bill Bradley over Barry in the 1965 NBA Draft they would not miss this second chance to take Barry in exchange for waiving $ 3 million of the indemnity payment.
The Lakers also don’t sign Cazzie Russell as they are rebuilding and don't want to give up future 1st round picks as they don't see any big name superstars who would be available to be traded there.
The Stars, Nuggets and Spurs would go in the western conference while the Pacers, Nets and Colonels would go in the eastern conference joining these teams was a new expansion team called the New Orleans Jazz who made a very risky trade for Pete Maravich who was an LSU legend but would certainly attract fans and so the stage was set for what would be one of the most interesting seasons in NBA History.
As for the teams who were part of the merger the Pacers had just transitioned to the George Mcginnis era with Billy Knight, Darnell Hillman and Don Buse taking over for Roger Brown, Freddie Lewis and Roger Brown the Stars were on the downswing as Zelmo Beaty would retire and the team would start to rebuild, the Nuggets had obtained Carl Scheer as GM and gotten Larry Brown as coach with Doug Moe as his assistant and a decent team with no superstar but a decent team nonetheless, the Spurs having just obtained George Gervin were on the rise, Kentucky replaced Babe McCarthy with Hubie Brown to help the Colonels reach the promised land and as for the Nets even with the loss of Barry they still had the Big 2 in Abdul-Jabbar and Erving along with a good supporting cast in Larry Kenon, John Williamson and Brian Taylor.
And the season was an interesting one to say the least as the East was very top heavy with the Nets winning 66 games even with the loss of Rick Barry winning his 1st MVP award with averages of 30, 6, 6 and 3 steals leading the league was required as Kareem and Erving both had some minor injuries and Bob McAdoo and George McGinnis teams records weren't good enough to justify winning the award and the Knicks were looking like a contender once again with the elite Frasier and Monroe backcourt it became evident that an elite big men for the Knicks was needed to contend Then it would be the Celtics, Bullets and Colonels who all would win 57 games with the Bullets getting the 2 seed, Kentucky the 3 seed which left Boston stuck in 4th position. Buffalo and New York would fill the other 2 seeds in the playoff picture in the East.
Meanwhile in the West Larry Brown introduced himself to the NBA by winning 62 games with the Nuggets and leading them to the 1st seed in the West and which enabled him to win the Coach of the Year award while the Bulls would finish with the 2nd seed with their team that was getting on in age and whose best chance at a title was probably gone by this point then it was the Spurs, Kansas City Kings which was a surprise and finally the Supersonics and Pistons.
In the West the Playoffs were a bit boring as the Nuggets made it to the finals easily beating the Supersonics and Bulls in 5 games the Bulls defeat ending their era of contention as the team was aging with Chet Walker retiring at the end of the season and with Jerry Sloan and Bob Love to follow him out the door in the near future it was time for a rebuild in Chicago.
Meanwhile in the East it was a bit more exciting as the Braves took the Celtics to 3 games in their 1st round matchup while the Knicks would beat Kentucky in 3 games and the Knicks would continue their run beating the Bullets in the 2nd round sending Oscar Robertson into retirement while the Nets would beat the Celtics ending their title defense. Time for the conference finals and after 1 season it certainly appeared as though the ABA had the better players as 3 of their teams were still in contention for an NBA title compared to only 1 NBA team and the Nets would beat the Knicks in the battle of New York with Julius Erving’s dunks firing up the opposing crowd in particular summing up the series.
And on to the 1975 NBA Finals which had a very distinct ABA feel to them as the finalists were 2 ABA teams in the Denver Nuggets and the New York Nets. These teams were also very opposite one another as Denver was a good solid team which several 2nd or 3rd tier players but no superstar whereas the Nets had 2 superstars in Erving and Abdul Jabbar and it was the Nets starpower which would enable them to win the series in 5 games with Kareem winning his 1st NBA Finals MVP Award leading the Nets to their 4th titles in 5 years.
12 | Los Angeles Lakers | 30 | 52 | .366 | 32 |
- Most Valuable Player: Rick Barry, New York Knicks
- Rookie of the Year: Marvin Barnes, Philadelphia 76ers
- Coach of the Year: Larry Brown, Denver Nuggets
- All-NBA First Team:
- Nate Archibald, Kansas City-Omaha Kings
- Julius Erving, New York Nets
- Kareem Abdul Jabbar, New York Nets
- Rick Barry, New York Knicks
- George McGinnis, Indiana Pacers
- All-NBA Second Team:
- John Havlicek, Boston Celtics
- Elvin Hayes, Washington Bullets
- Artis Gilmore, Kentucky Colonels
- Walt Frasier, New York Knicks
- Mack Calvin, Denver Nuggets
- All-NBA Rookie Team:
- NBA All-Defensive First Team:
- NBA All-Defensive Second Team:
1975 NBA All Star Game Rosters
West
Starters
PG Nate Archibald ( Kansas City Kings)
SG George Gervin ( San Antonio Spurs)
SF Ralph Simpson ( Denver Rockets)
PF Spencer Haywood ( Seattle SuperSonics)
C Swen Nater ( San Antonio Spurs)
Bench
PG Mack Calvin ( Denver Rockets)
SG James Silas ( San Antonio Spurs)
SG Ron Boone ( Utah Stars)
SF Bob Dandridge ( Milwaukee Bucks)
PF Sidney Wicks ( Portland Trail Blazers)
PF Bob Lanier Detroit Pistons)
C Moses Malone ( Phoenix Suns)
East
Starters
PG Walt Frasier ( New York Knicks)
SG Rick Barry ( New York Knicks)
SF Julius Erving ( New York Nets)
PF Bob McAdoo ( Buffalo Braves)
C Kareem Abdul Jabbar ( New York Nets)
Bench
PG Freddie Lewis ( Indiana Pacers)
SG Louie Dampier ( Kentucky Colonels)
SF John Havlicek ( Boston Celtics)
PF George Mcginnis ( Indiana Pacers)
PF Dan Issel ( Kentucky Colonels)
C Artis Gilmore ( Kentucky Colonels)
C Dave Cowens ( Boston Celtics)
Western Conference
Champion: Denver Nuggets
Western Conference First Round
(4) Kansas City Kings vs.
(5) Seattle Super Sonics: Super Sonics win series 2–1
- Game 1 @ Kansas City: Kansas City 112, Seattle 103
- Game 2 @ Seattle: Seattle 122, Kansas City 117
- Game 3 @ Kansas City: Seattle 112, Kansas City 108
(3) San Antonio Spurs vs. (6) Detroit Pistons: Spurs win series 2-0
- Game 1 @ San Antonio: San Antonio 122, Detroit 107
- Game 2 @ Detroit: San Antonio 126, Detroit 120
Western Conference Semifinals
(1) Denver Nuggets vs. (5) Seattle Super Sonics: Nuggets win series 4–1
- Game 1 @ Denver: Denver 122, Seattle 107
- Game 2 @ Denver: Denver 126, Seattle 120
- Game 3 @ Seattle: Denver 122, Seattle 108
- Game 4 @ Seattle: Seattle 132, Denver 110
- Game 5 @ Denver: Denver 130, Seattle 119
(2)
Chicago Bulls vs. (3) San Antonio Spurs: Bulls win series 4–2
- Game 1 @ San Antonio: Chicago 122, San Antonio 119
- Game 2 @ San Antonio: Chicago 98, San Antonio 93
- Game 3 @ Chicago: Chicago 113, San Antonio 103
- Game 4 @ Chicago: San Antonio 110, Chicago 109
- Game 5 @ San Antonio: San Antonio 123, Chicago 117
- Game 6 @ Chicago: Chicago 115, San Antonio 100
Western Conference Finals
(1)
Denver Nuggets vs. (2) Chicago Bulls: Nuggets win series 4–1
- Game 1 @ Denver: Denver 131, Chicago 128
- Game 2 @ Denver: Denver 131, Chicago 124
- Game 3 @ Chicago: Chicago 118, Denver 112
- Game 4 @ Chicago: Denver 126, Chicago 109
- Game 5 @ Denver: Denver 109, Chicago 90
Eastern Conference
Champion: New York Nets
Eastern Conference First Round
(4) Kentucky Colonels vs.
(5) New York Knicks : Knicks win series 2–1
- Game 1 @ Kentucky: Kentucky 108, New York 100
- Game 2 @ New York: New York 118, Kentucky 112
- Game 3 @ Kentucky: New York 100, Kentucky 97
(3) Boston Celtics vs. (6) Buffalo Braves: Celtics win series 2–1
- Game 1 @ Boston: Boston 102, Buffalo 97
- Game 2 @ Buffalo: Buffalo 112, Boston 87
- Game 3 @ Boston: Boston 98, Buffalo 96
Eastern Conference Semifinals
(2) Washington Bullets vs. (
5) New York Knicks: Knicks win series 4–0
- Game 1 @ Washington: New York 98, Washington 91
- Game 2 @ Washington: New York 119, Washington 105
- Game 3 @ New York: New York 101, Washington 80
- Game 4 @ New York: New York 107, Washington 93
(1) New York Nets vs. (3) Boston Celtics : Nets win series 4–1
- Game 1 @ New York: Boston 111, New York 105
- Game 2 @ New York: New York 115, Boston 97
- Game 3 @ Boston: New York 113, Boston 108
- Game 4 @ Boston: New York 100, Boston 89
- Game 5 @ New York: New York 108, Boston 107
Eastern Conference Finals
(1)
New York Nets vs. (5) New York Knicks: Nets win series 4–1
- Game 1 @ New York: New York Nets 112, New York Knicks 109
- Game 2 @ New York: New York Nets 108, New York Knicks 103
- Game 3 @ New York: New York Knicks 103, New York Nets 97
- Game 4 @ New York: New York Nets 117, New York Knicks 98
- Game 5 @ New York: New York Nets 123, New York Knicks 103
NBA Finals
(1)
New York Nets VS. (1) Denver Nuggets : Nets win series 4–1
- Game 1 (May 13) @New York: New York 120, Denver 94
- Game 2 (May 15) @ New York: New York 95, Denver 93
- Game 3 (May 18) @ Denver: New York 109, Denver 101
- Game 4 (May 19) @ Denver: Denver 94, New York 86
- Game 5 (May 22) @ New York: New York 110, Denver 105