# 1975–76 ABA season

The 1975–76 ABA season was the ninth and final season of the American Basketball Association. The shot clock was changed from 30 to 24 seconds to match the NBA. Dave DeBusschere was the league's new commissioner, its seventh and last. This was also the only season that did not use the East-West division setup. The NBA would adopt the ABA's three-point shot for the 1979–80 season.
Prior to the start of the season, the Memphis Sounds relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, and briefly became the Baltimore Hustlers, then the Baltimore Claws. The Claws folded during the preseason in October after playing three exhibition games. The San Diego Conquistadors were replaced for the 1975–76 season by the San Diego Sails, but folded in November, followed by the Utah Stars in early December. The Virginia Squires folded in May following the end of the regular season, but before the conclusion of the 1976 ABA Playoffs, due to them being unable to make a $75,000 league assessment one month before league merger talks with the NBA began.
The 1976 ABA All-Star Game saw the first place Denver Nuggets come from behind to defeat the ABA All Stars 144–138 in Denver. The game saw the first ever Slam Dunk Contest, won by Julius Erving.
With the conclusion of the season, the June 1976 ABA-NBA merger saw the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, and San Antonio Spurs join the NBA, while the Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis accepted deals to fold. The deal accepted by the Spirits' owners, Ozzie and Daniel Silna, would turn out to be quite lucrative, as they agreed to receive a seventh of the television revenue generated by each of the four newly added franchises in perpetuity.

## Teams

1975-76 American Basketball Association :
| Team | City | Arena | Capacity |
| Baltimore Claws | Baltimore, Maryland | Baltimore Civic Arena | 11,686 |
| Denver Nuggets | Denver, Colorado | McNichols Sports Arena | 16,700 |
| Indiana Pacers | Indianapolis, Indiana | Market Square Arena | 17,000 |
| Kentucky Colonels | Louisville, Kentucky | Freedom Hall | 16,664 |
| New York Nets | Uniondale, New York | Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum | 14,865 |
| San Antonio Spurs | San Antonio, Texas | Hemisfair Arena | 10,146 |
| San Diego Sails | San Diego, California | San Diego Sports Arena | 14,500 |
| Spirits of St. Louis | St. Louis, Missouri | St. Louis Arena | 18,006 |
| Utah Stars | Salt Lake City, Utah | Salt Palace | 12,166 |
| Virginia Squires | Old Dominion University Fieldhouse Hampton Coliseum Richmond Arena | Norfolk, Virginia Hampton, Virginia Richmond, Virginia | 5,200 9,777 6,000 |

### Map of teams
## Final standings

| Team | W | L | PCT. | GB |
| Denver Nuggets * | 60 | 24 | .714 | — |
| New York Nets * | 55 | 29 | .655 | 5 |
| San Antonio Spurs * | 50 | 34 | .595 | 10 |
| Kentucky Colonels * | 46 | 38 | .548 | 14 |
| Indiana Pacers * | 39 | 45 | .464 | 21 |
| Spirits of St. Louis | 35 | 49 | .417 | 25 |
| Virginia Squires † | 15 | 68 | .181 | 44 |
| San Diego Sails † | 3 | 8 | .273 | — |
| Utah Stars † | 4 | 12 | .250 | — |
| Baltimore Claws † | 0 | 0 | .000 | — |
Asterisk (*) denotes playoff team † did not survive the end of the season.
Bold – ABA champions

## Playoffs

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. In the finals the Nets beat the Nuggets, 4 games to 2.

## Awards and honors

* ABA Most Valuable Player Award: Julius Erving, New York Nets (3rd selection)
* Rookie of the Year: David Thompson, Denver Nuggets
* Coach of the Year: Larry Brown, Denver Nuggets (3rd selection)
* Playoffs MVP: Julius Erving, New York Nets (2nd selection)
* All-Star Game MVP: David Thompson, Denver Nuggets
* Executive of the Year: Carl Scheer, Denver Nuggets (3rd selection)
* All-ABA First Team
** Julius Erving, New York Nets (4th First Team selection, 5th overall selection)
** Billy Knight, Indiana Pacers
** Artis Gilmore, Kentucky Colonels (5th selection)
** James Silas, San Antonio Spurs (1st First Team selection, 2nd overall selection)
** Ralph Simpson, Denver Nuggets (1st First Team selection, 3rd overall selection)
* All-ABA Second Team
** David Thompson, Denver Nuggets
** Bobby Jones, Denver Nuggets
** Dan Issel, Denver Nuggets (4th Second Team selection, 5th overall selection)
** Don Buse, Indiana Pacers
** George Gervin, San Antonio Spurs (2nd selection)
* All-Defensive Team
** Don Buse (2nd selection), Indiana Pacers
** Julius Erving, New York Nets
** Artis Gilmore (4th selection), Kentucky Colonels
** Bobby Jones (2nd selection), Denver Nuggets
** Brian Taylor (2nd selection), New York Nets
* All-Rookie Team
** Luther Burden, Virginia Squires
** M. L. Carr, Spirits of St. Louis
** Kim Hughes, New York Nets
** Mark Olberding, San Diego Sails & San Antonio Spurs
** David Thompson, Denver Nuggets