The 1976–77 San Antonio Spurs season was the Spurs first season in the NBA. Months earlier, the Spurs were part of the American Basketball Association (Six in Dallas and three in San Antonio). The ABA had ended its ninth and last campaign. Of the seven remaining ABA teams, four joined the NBA: the Denver Nuggets, New York Nets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs. The Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis agreed to take a cash settlement and cease operations. Immediately, the ABA players were dispersed across the new 22-team league. 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. Afterwards, the Spurs would win just 1 of their next 7 games. In November, the Spurs would win 6 straight. By February the Spurs were 10 games over .500, and were the NBA's highest scoring team at 115 points per game. Despite the offensive flash, the Spurs also had the league's worst defense at 114 points per game as they struggled to finish in 3rd place in the Central Division with a record of 44–38. In the playoffs, the Spurs were swept in 2 straight by the defending world champion Boston Celtics.

Offseason

NBA draft Neither the Spurs, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets or Denver Nuggets were allowed to participate in the 1976 NBA draft.

ABA Dispersal Draft The American Basketball Association merged with the NBA in 1976. Of the teams remaining in the ABA, four joined the NBA. The two teams, the Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis, which folded had their players assigned to a dispersal draft for draft purposes.

Pick Player Nationality NBA Team ABA Team Purchase Price 10 Louie Dampier (PG) San Antonio Spurs Kentucky Colonels $20,000

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log

October Record: 2–4; home: 1–1; road: 1–3

# Date Visitor Score Home Record 1 October 22, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 121–118 Philadelphia 76ers 1–0 2 October 23, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 98–117 New York Knicks 1–1 3 October 26, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 114–122 Atlanta Hawks 1–2 4 October 27, 1976 Phoenix Suns 106–115 San Antonio Spurs 2–2 5 October 29, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 102–130 Kansas City Kings 2–3 6 October 30, 1976 Boston Celtics 126–117 San Antonio Spurs 2–4 1976–77 San Antonio Spurs Games – Basketball-Reference.com

November Record: 9–5; home: 8–0; road: 1–5

# Date Visitor Score Home Record 7 November 3, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 97–113 Indiana Pacers 2–5 8 November 5, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 119–127 New Orleans Jazz 2–6 9 November 6, 1976 Indiana Pacers 94–113 San Antonio Spurs 3–6 10 November 9, 1976 Seattle SuperSonics 114–138 San Antonio Spurs 4–6 11 November 11, 1976 New York Nets 104–108 San Antonio Spurs 5–6 12 November 13, 1976 Portland Trail Blazers 101–113 San Antonio Spurs 6–6 13 November 16, 1976 Buffalo Braves 112–114 San Antonio Spurs 7–6 14 November 18, 1976 Kansas City Kings 104–129 San Antonio Spurs 8–6 15 November 20, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 103–109 Washington Bullets 8–7 16 November 23, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 122–115 Buffalo Braves 9–7 17 November 24, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 91–99 New York Nets 9–8 18 November 26, 1976 Golden State Warriors 121–123 San Antonio Spurs 10–8 19 November 27, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 89–75 Houston Rockets 10–9 20 November 30, 1976 Detroit Pistons 129–130 San Antonio Spurs 11–9

December Record: 7–7; home: 4–1; road: 3–6

# Date Visitor Score Home Record 21 December 2, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 116–124 Golden State Warriors 11–10 22 December 3, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 105–114 Los Angeles Lakers 11–11 23 December 5, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 98–103 Phoenix Suns 11–12 24 December 8, 1976 Atlanta Hawks 117–106 San Antonio Spurs 11–13 25 December 10, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 136–120 Milwaukee Bucks 12–13 26 December 11, 1976 New Orleans Jazz 106–121 San Antonio Spurs 13–13 27 December 14, 1976 New York Knicks 98–111 San Antonio Spurs 14–13 28 December 15, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 102–116 Indiana Pacers 14–14 29 December 17, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 101–103 Chicago Bulls 14–15 30 December 19, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 105–106 Cleveland Cavaliers 14–16 31 December 21, 1976 Golden State Warriors 123–120 San Antonio Spurs 15–16 32 December 23, 1976 Washington Bullets 116–118 San Antonio Spurs 16–16 33 December 26, 1976 San Antonio Spurs 110–105 Kansas City Kings 17–16 34 December 28, 1976 Philadelphia 76ers 116–127 San Antonio Spurs 18–16

Playoffs

|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 1 | April 12 | @ Boston | L 94–104 | Kenon, Gervin (20) | Billy Paultz (10) | Louie Dampier (5) | Boston Garden13,505 | 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | April 15 | Boston | L 109–113 | George Gervin (30) | three players tied (7) | Mike Gale (7) | HemisFair Arena12,067 | 0–2

Player statistics

Ragular season PlayerSF82 82 2,705 454 238 105 104 1,895 33.0 5.5 2.9 1.3 1.3 23.1C82 82 2,694 687 223 55 173 1,280 32.9 8.4 2.7 .7 2.1 15.6SG82 2,598 273 473 191 50 843 31.7 3.3 5.8 2.3 .6 10.3SF82 2,017 348 240 89 2 936 24.6 4.2 2.9 1.1 .0 11.4PF82 1,949 449 119 59 29 853 23.8 5.5 1.5 .7 .4 10.4C82 1,772 372 148 88 57 689 21.6 4.5 1.8 1.1 .7 8.4PG 80 1,634 76 234 49 15 530 20.4 1.0 2.9 .6 .2 6.6PF 78 2,936 879 229 167 60 1,705 37.6 11.3 2.9 2.1 .8 21.9†PG 35 606 31 104 23 1 309 17.3 .9 3.0 .7 .0 8.8PG 29 251 17 46 10 0 79 8.7 .6 1.6 .3 .0 2.7SG 27 171 33 6 6 5 83 6.3 1.2 .2 .2 .2 3.1PG 22 356 32 50 13 3 209 16.2 1.5 2.3 .6 .1 9.5SG 4 57 7 3 2 0 18 14.3 1.8 .8 .5 .0 4.5SG 2 9 2 2 0 0 3 4.5 1.0 1.0 .0 .0 1.5

Playoffs PlayerPF2 79 15 6 5 1 34 39.5 7.5 3.0 2.5 .5 17.0C2 74 17 5 2 1 34 37.0 8.5 2.5 1.0 .5 17.0SG2 67 10 10 4 2 22 33.5 5.0 5.0 2.0 1.0 11.0C2 64 9 5 1 0 26 32.0 4.5 2.5 .5 .0 13.0SF2 62 11 3 1 2 50 31.0 5.5 1.5 .5 1.0 25.0PG2 62 3 9 1 1 12 31.0 1.5 4.5 .5 .5 6.0PF2 42 7 2 0 1 13 21.0 3.5 1.0 .0 .5 6.5SF2 28 4 7 2 0 8 14.0 2.0 3.5 1.0 .0 4.0SG 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 1.0 .0 .0 .0 .0 4.0PG 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0

Awards and records George Gervin, All-NBA Second Team

References

Spurs on Basketball Reference