Formative Period
2Feb67 An ABA franchise is awarded for $30,000 to Arthur J. Brown (head of the ABC Freight Forwarding Company) and Mark Binstein.... The team is originally known as the New Jersey Freighters (Brown was the owner of ABC Freight Forwarding Company), but the name is changed to Americans.... Max Zaslofsky is named coach and General Manager .... Mel Basel is named Executive Director of Operations .... Play in the Teaneck Armory.... Apr67 The Americans sign LeRoy Ellis of the NBA's Baltimore Bullets ....Sign Tony Jackson, who had been banned by the NBA .... Draft Sonny Dove (who signs with Detroit of the NBA) .... Sign Dan Anderson, Art Heyman and Walt Simon .... 20Sep67 After a lengthy contract dispute with Ellis, New Jersey files a suit against the Baltimore Bullets and the NBA in an effort to keep Ellis from playing with Baltimore .... 3Oct67 New York State Supreme Court turns down New Jersey's lawsuit against the Bullets and the NBA
1967-68 (36-43) Tied for Fourth Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 2,054
2Dec67 Trade Art Heyman to Pittsburgh for Barry Liebowitz .... 18Jan68 Liebowitz is traded to Oakland for Levern Tart .... 9Jan68 Jackson plays in the ABA All-Star Game .... New Jersey is forced to forfeit a one game playoff against the Kentucky Colonels for fourth place and a playoff berth after the Teaneck Armory was unavailable, and its replacement, Commack Arena, was unplayable
1968-69 (17-61) Fifth Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 1,108
15Jul68 After losing $500,000 in their only season, the Americans move to Commack Arena, becoming the New York Nets .... 7Nov68 Jackson is traded to Minnesota .... 27Nov68 Connie Hawkins of Minnesota scores 57 points against the Nets .... 30Dec68 Oliver Darden is traded to Kentucky for Randy Mahaffey .... 28Jan69 Simon plays in the ABA All-Star Game .... 31Jan69 Ron Perry is traded to Indiana for Steve Chubin .... 31Jan69 Tart, Bob Verga and Hank Whitney are traded to Houston for Leary Lentz and Willie Somerset .... 15Feb69 The ABA holds a "secret draft" of college players, with the rights to Lew Alcindor going to the Nets .... 18Mar69 Mel Daniels of Indiana scores 56 points against the Nets .... The Nets use 23 different players during the course of the regular season.... Finish with the league's worst record .... Fail to qualify for the playoffs
1969-70 (39-45) Second Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 3,504
Fail to sign draft picks Lew Alcindor (who signs with Milwaukee of the NBA), Rick Roberson (who signs with Los Angeles of the NBA) and Norm Van Lier (who signs with Cincinnati of the NBA) .... 26May69 The franchise is purchased for $988,000 by a group headed by clothier Roy L.M. Boe (51%) and including investment bankers John Leib, James Miller, Paul Devlin, Allan Bogardus, Edward Andrews and William Witter .... York Larese is named coach .... 12Jun69 Mahaffey is sold to Carolina .... 18Jun69 St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca is named Vice President, General Manager and coach for the 1970-71 season .... Charles Theokas is named Vice President of Operations .... 26Jun69 Purchase Tart from Denver .... 30Jun69 Purchase Les Hunter from Miami .... Bill Melchionni is signed as a free agent from Philadelphia of the NBA .... Sign Sonny Dove .... 22Oct69 Purchase Ed Johnson from Los Angeles .... 10Jan70 Mike Lewis of Pittsburgh collects 31 rebounds against the Nets .... 24Jan70 Tart plays in the ABA All-Star Game .... Lose in the first round of playoffs to Kentucky 4 games to 3
1970-71 (40-44) Fourth Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 4,636
23Mar70 Draft Jim Ard, Bob Lanier (who signs with Detroit of the NBA) and Geoff Petrie (who signs with Portland of the NBA) .... Carnesecca becomes Vice President, General Manager and coach .... 11Aug70 Acquire Billy Paultz from Virginia for a draft choice and cash .... 2Sep70 Trade a draft pick and cash to Virginia for Rick Barry .... 14Oct70 Trade Simon to Kentucky for a draft choice .... 24Oct70 Trade Hunter to Kentucky for a draft choice and cash .... 15Jan71 Barry scores 53 points against Pittsburgh .... 23Jan71 Barry and Melchionni play in the ABA All-Star Game .... 6Jan71 Tart and Johnson are traded to Texas for Manny Leaks .... Barry is limited to 59 games due to a knee injury .... Barry is named First Team All-ABA .... Melchionni leads the league in assists with 8.3 APG .... Lose to Virginia in the first round of playoffs 4 games to 2
1971-72 (44-40) Third Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 6,204
8May71 Purchase the rights to John Roche from Kentucky .... 14May71 Trade a draft choice to Miami for Tom "Trooper" Washington .... 1Nov71 Trade Leaks to Utah for a draft choice and cash .... 17Dec71 Paultz grabs a team-record 33 rebounds against Dallas .... 22Dec71 A federal judge in San Francisco gives Golden State permission to file a counter-complaint against Barry in order to prevent him from renewing his contract with the Nets after it expires .... 29Jan72 Barry and Melchionni play in the All-Star Game .... 11Feb72 Move to the Nassau Coliseum .... 18Feb72 Underclassman Jim Chones signs a 5-year, $1.5 million contract .... 29Apr72 Virginia's Julius Erving gets 32 rebounds against Nets .... Barry and Melchionni are named First Team All-ABA .... Melchionni leads the league in assists with 8.4 APG .... Roche is named to the ABA All-Rookie Team .... 2Mar72 Draft Brian Taylor .... 1Apr72 Barry scores 50 points against Kentucky in a playoff game .... 20May72 Indiana defeats the Nets 108-105 in game six of the ABA Championship Series to win the ABA Title .... Defeat Kentucky 4 games to 2 and Virginia 4 games to 2 before losing to Indiana in ABA Championship Series 4 games to 2
1972-73 (30-54) Fourth Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 6,735
Jim Quinn is named Vice President of Operations .... 23Jun72 A US District Court judges issues a preliminary injunction to prohibit Barry from playing for any team other than Golden State after the conclusion of his Nets contract .... 8Aug72 Trade a draft choice and cash to Carolina for George Carter .... 6Feb73 Melchionni and Paultz play in the ABA All-Star Game .... 6Oct72 Rick Barry officially released by the Nets and signs with Golden State .... 8Feb73 Virginia's Julius Erving scores 58 points against the Nets .... 2Apr73 Taylor is named ABA Rookie of the Year .... Chones and Taylor are named to the ABA All-Rookie Team .... Melchionni leads the league in assists for third consecutive year with 7.5 APG .... Lose to Carolina in the opening round of the playoffs 4 games to 1
1973-74 (55-29) First Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 8,923
Draft Jim Brewer (who signs with Cleveland of the NBA) in the special circumstance draft .... Draft Campy Russell (who stays in college) in the undergraduate draft .... Carnesecca returns to St. John's .... Kevin Loughery is named coach .... Draft Doug Collins (who signs with Philadelphia of the NBA) and Kermit Washington (who signs with Los Angeles of the NBA) .... William M. Skehan is named Executive Vice President .... 1Aug73 Trade Carter, the rights to Kermit Washington and $750,000 to Virginia for Julius Erving and Willie Sojourner.... Erving is then signed to a new five-year, $2 million contract .... 20Sep73 Ard and John Baum are traded to Memphis for the rights to Larry Kenon .... 5Dec73 Indiana's George McGinnis pulls down 33 rebounds against the Nets .... 24Jan74 Roche is traded to Kentucky for Mike Gale and Wendell Ladner .... 30Jan74 Erving and Kenon play in the ABA All-Star Game as Paultz is named but misses the game due to an injury .... 3Feb74 Kentucky's Artis Gilmore grabs 40 rebounds against the Nets .... Finish with the league's best record .... Erving is named ABA Most Valuable Player .... Erving is named First Team All-ABA .... Kenon and Williamson are named to the ABA All-Rookie Team .... Gale is named to the ABA All-Defensive Team 10May74 New York defeats Utah 111-100 in game five of the ABA Championship Series to win the ABA title .... Erving is named Most Valuable Player of ABA Playoffs.... Defeat Virginia 4 -1, Kentucky 4 - 0, and Utah 4-1 in playoffs to win ABA Championship
1974-75 (58-26) Tied for First Place in Eastern Division
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 9,135
Draft Brian Winters (who signs with Los Angeles of the NBA), Rich Kelley (who stays in college) and Al Skinner .... Dave DeBusschere is named Vice President and General Manager .... Select Phil Chenier, Dave Cowens, Jerry Sloan, Jim Fox and Garfield Heard in the draft of NBA players .... 28Jan75 Paultz, Erving, Kenon and Taylor play in the ABA All-Star Game .... 14Feb75 Erving scores a team-record 63 points against San Diego in a four overtime game.... Erving is named First Team All-ABA, Taylor is named Second Team All-ABA .... Taylor is named to the ABA All-Defensive Team .... Erving named co-winner of the ABA Most Valuable Player award (with Indiana's George McGinnis) .... 4Apr75 Lose first place playoff game to Kentucky 108-99 .... Lose in the first round of playoffs to St. Louis 4 games to 1 after finishing 12-0 against the Spirits during the season .... 14May75 DeBusschere is named as replacement for Tedd Munchak as ABA Commissioner
1975-76 (55-29) Second Place
Avg. Regular Season Attendance: 7,755
16Jun75 Draft John Lucas (who stays in college), Leon Douglas (who stays in college) and Mike Mitchell (who stays in college) .... 3Jun75 Kenon is traded to San Antonio for Swen Nater .... 3Jun75 Gale is sold to San Antonio .... 8Sep75 Paultz is traded to San Antonio for Rich Jones, Chuck Terry, Bob Warren and Kim Hughes .... 24Sep75 The Nets and Denver apply for membership in the NBA, subjecting themselves to a possible $2 million fine .... 10Nov75 NBA owners decline to take action on the applications for NBA membership by the ABA teams .... 27Jan76 Erving and Taylor play in the ABA All-Star Game .... 27Jan76 Nater and Bill Schaeffer are traded to Virginia for Jim Eakins .... Taylor is limited to 54 games due to a back injury .... Erving is named First Team All-ABA .... Erving is named ABA Most Valuable Player for the third consecutive year .... Erving leads the ABA in scoring with 29.3 PPG .... Hughes is named to ABA All-Rookie Team .... Erving and Taylor named to the ABA All-Defensive Team.... 13May76 The Nets defeat Denver 112-106 in game 6 of the ABA Championship Series to win the ABA title .... Defeat San Antonio 4 games to 3 and Denver 4 games to 2 in the playoffs to win ABA Championship .... Erving is named Most Valuable Player of ABA Playoffs....
17Jun76 An ABA/NBA merger finally takes place, with Denver, Indiana, New York and San Antonio each paying $3.2 million to join the NBA....The four ABA clubs agree not to receive any television money for their first three seasons in the NBA, and not to participate in the 1976 college draft....The four ABA clubs agree to be referred to as "expansion franchises".... The four ABA clubs agree that for two years, they will have no vote regarding the distribution of NBA gate receipts or the realignment of NBA divisions....The four ABA clubs keep the players on their rosters with the remaining ABA players (from Kentucky and St. Louis) going into a special dispersal draft....The Nets agree to make an indemnification payment of $4.8 million to the New York Knicks for playing in the Knicks' NBA territory
