American Basketball Association ( 2000 – present ) The American Basketball Association , often abbreviated as ABA , is an American semi - professional men ' s basketball league that was founded in 1999 . The current ABA has no affiliation with the original American Basketball Association that merged with the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) in 1976 . History . The current ABA was started up by Joe Newman and Richard Tinkham . Tinkham was an executive with the Indiana Pacers when they were in the original ABA . They licensed the ABA name from the NBA . 2000 – 2003 . The league first began play in 2000 with eight teams . During this time , the league focused mainly on teams in larger cities . To attract fans , the ABA had rosters with former NBA players and past college basketball stars with local ties . The league suspended operations during the 2002 - 2003 season for reorganization . After returning one season to help rebuild , league focus was changed , from a few teams in large cities to many teams in large and medium cities , set up in regional groups . This was due in part to lowering the franchise fees down to $ 10 , 000 from $ 50 , 000 and not requiring a bond to start a team . This reduced operating costs and allowed several cities to get into the league that otherwise wouldn ' t . However , it also resulted in several ownership groups being badly underfinanced . Over the last decade , this has resulted in the creation of several new teams , but many of them haven ' t finished the season . 2004 – 2006 . The 2004 - 2005 season was the first under this new format , with 37 teams playing that season . Each season , the number of teams grew , with both successful teams and teams that didn ' t complete the season . The ABA had 50 + teams playing in a season . Some stories of successful expansion franchises were the Arkansas RimRockers in 2004 and the Rochester Razorsharks in 2005 . Both won an ABA title in the team ' s First season . 2006 – 2007 . The 2006 - 2007 season saw the cost for a new expansion franchise raised to $ 20 , 000 , but many still sold for $ 5 , 000 - $ 10 , 000 and less , in some cases going as low as $ 1 . One notable 2006 - 2007 expansion franchise was the Vermont Frost Heaves , owned by " Sports Illustrated " writer Alexander Wolff . Also in 2006 - 2007 , former NBA player John Salley was named league commissioner , and Maryland Nighthawks owner Tom Doyle was named chief operating officer . Following the league ' s first public offering in 2006 , it was reported that Joe Newman was voted out of his position as league CEO . A form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2007 claimed the ABA Board of Directors removed Newman as league CEO on January 31 , 2007 . It went on to state that Newman ' s actions as league CEO would be reviewed to ensure that they were performed with the Board ' s permission . The same filing also claimed that Newman and other shareholders plotted to remove Tom Doyle , John Salley , and David Howitt from the Board and elect Paul Riley as its director . Newman denied his removal ever occurred , and continued as acting CEO . The lawsuits were settled in March 2007 with Doyle ' s and Salley ' s resignations from the league Board of Directors . The 2006 - 2007 season saw many franchises fail to travel to road games or play a full schedule . When a weather problem required a postponement of a playoff game between the defending champion Rochester Razorsharks and the Wilmington Sea Dawgs , instead of letting the two teams reschedule , the league wanted to force Rochester to forfeit . Rochester instead withdrew from the league . This incident , coupled with the CEO v . COO intrigue , caused to some league owners to become frustrated with the instability of the league and separate to form the Premier Basketball League ( PBL ) . 2007 – 2009 . The 2007 - 2008 season saw nearly twenty teams fold within its first five weeks , and several remaining teams left the ABA to join other existing leagues . According to Our Sports Central , only around 35 % of the games were actually played in the 2007 - 08 season . The teams that played the highest percentage of games were Vermont , the Manchester ( NH ) Millrats , and the Quebec Kebs . Those three teams would leave to the PBL at the conclusion of the season . Another team that only played home games was Beijing Aoshen Olympians . This team was kicked out of the Chinese Basketball League and played home games in Singapore . Beijing would pay $ 3000 and fly teams to Singapore for a 2 - game homestand . Early teams complained on Our Sports Central that they were forced to stay in a hotel that doubled as a brothel . Joe Newman CEO forced Beijing to find a new hotel on hearing this news . Later teams stayed in a Holiday Inn . The league ' s most successful franchise by attendance , the Halifax Rainmen , left the ABA , citing frustration with teams not showing up for games , as well as a biased ranking system . Numerous sportswriters essentially referred to the ABA as a joke , and not to be taken seriously . The 2008 - 2009 season saw the league conduct interleague play with the Continental Basketball Association . 2009 – 2010 . The 2009 - 2010 season was scheduled to have over 50 teams . The season ended with several teams folding , starting in early December , including the entire northwest division . The league playoffs also had several games cancelled due to teams unable to afford travel , including a semi - final playoff game . The playoffs ended with Southeast Texas Mustangs defeating Kentucky Bisons in a three game series . On April 25 , 2010 as part of their ABA Global initiative , the ABA hosted the 2010 ABA Friendship Games , where the Philippine National Basketball Team competed against teams from the ABA . 2010 – 2011 . The 2010 - 2011 season was expected to field over 60 teams . It was also announced that a new Canadian Division would be formed in 2010 . A team based out of Toronto will join the ABA prior to a formation of the Canadian Division when more Canadian teams have been formed . In the summer the league announced the first Haitian pro - basketball team , Haitian Relief . The league planned to host over 800 games combined amongst the teams . In the end though , it was the same as previous seasons , with many teams disappearing before the season and during the season . Fewer than 50 full - time teams played games . The 2011 ABA All - Star Game resulted in a 123 - 122 Eastern conference win over the West , in front of a crowd of 4 , 488 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville , Florida . The playoffs started the next weekend , with the last four teams playing a double elimination tournament at the home of Southeast Texas Mavericks , who won their second ABA title two games to none over the Gulf Coast Flash . The league planned to form the Women ' s American Basketball Association ( WABA ) league , unrelated to the original Women ' s American Basketball Association , another league which existed for one whole season in 2002 . The new league ' s first squad was to be located in Greenville , North Carolina . 2012 – 2013 . After the unsuccessful attempt to launch the WABA in the 2011 - 12 season , the league announced it would re - launch it during the 2012 - 13 season . Defunct teams . The ABA method of handing franchises to anybody who is willing to buy one , with no consideration to whether the person can afford it or not , resulted in over 200 folded franchises as of the beginning of the 2008 season .