The 1973–74 ABA season was the seventh season of the American Basketball Association. The 1973 ABA draft would utilize four different draft formats throughout multiple months that the nine ABA teams went through during the offseason period before officially starting this season. The New York Nets won the ABA championship, 4 games to 1, over the Utah Stars.
Only one franchise move occurred from the previous season, and it stayed in its original state. The Dallas Chaparrals were purchased by a group called "Professional Sports, Inc." led by Angelo Drossos, John Schaefer, and Red McCombs and were moved to San Antonio and renamed to become the San Antonio Spurs after originally being planned to be the San Antonio Gunslingers, with them still being the Spurs in the present day after initially having it be a unique deal where the team could return to Dallas (likely to become the Chaparrals once again) by 1975 if they weren't bought outright by then. One thing that helped their standing with the locals early on was having their venue offering both Coca-Cola and Pepsi products when most other teams had to offer one or the other due to licensing issues. However, what helped get the Spurs see long-term success (to the point of getting Drossos, Schaefer, and McCombs to officially buy out the original Chaparrals owners and own the Spurs as a long-term franchise properly this season) was having them acquire key players from the Virginia Squires in rookie Swen Nater and George Gervin through trades in order to help the latter team out with their own financial struggles (though those same financial struggles that Virginia tried to get out of by trading key players would later do them in for their chances of survival in the next few seasons afterward).
+Coaching changesOffseason Team 1972–73 coach 1973–74 coach Kentucky Colonels Joe Mullaney Babe McCarthy Memphis Tams Bob Bass Butch van Breda Kolff New York Nets Lou Carnesecca Kevin Loughery San Antonio Spurs Dave Brown Tom Nissalke San Diego Conquistadors K. C. Jones Wilt Chamberlain Utah Stars LaDell Anderson Joe Mullaney
Teams 1973–74 American Basketball Association Division Team City Arena Capacity Eastern Carolina Cougars Greensboro, North Carolina Charlotte, North Carolina Raleigh, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum Charlotte Coliseum Dorton Arena 15,000 9,605 7,610 Kentucky Colonels Louisville, Kentucky Freedom Hall 16,664 Memphis Tams Memphis, Tennessee Mid-South Coliseum 10,085 New York Nets Uniondale, New York Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 13,571 Virginia Squires Old Dominion University Fieldhouse Hampton Coliseum Richmond Arena Salem Civic Center Roanoke Civic Center Norfolk, Virginia Hampton, Virginia Richmond, Virginia Salem, Virginia Roanoke, Virginia 5,200 9,777 6,000 6,820 9,828 Western Denver Rockets Denver, Colorado Denver Auditorium Arena 6,841 Indiana Pacers Indianapolis, Indiana Indiana State Fair Coliseum 10,000 San Antonio Spurs San Antonio, Texas Hemisfair Arena 10,146 San Diego Conquistadors San Diego, California Golden Hall 3,200 Utah Stars Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Palace 12,166
Map of teams
Final standings
Eastern Division + Team W L PCT. GB New York Nets * 55 29 .655 — Kentucky Colonels * 53 31 .631 2 Carolina Cougars * 47 37 .560 8 Virginia Squires * 28 56 .333 27 Memphis Tams 21 63 .250 34
Western Division + Team W L PCT. GB Utah Stars * 51 33 .607 — Indiana Pacers * 46 38 .548 5 San Antonio Spurs * 45 39 .536 6 San Diego Conquistadors * 37 47 .440 14 Denver Rockets * 37 47 .440 14 Asterisk (*) denotes playoff team (the Conquistadors and the Rockets played a one-game playoff to settle the tie for the final playoff spot, which the Conquistadors won)
Bold – ABA champions
Regular season Julius Erving was named league MVP with 49 votes to Artis Gilmore's nine votes.
Playoffs
Awards and honors
ABA Most Valuable Player Award: Julius Erving, New York Nets Rookie of the Year: Swen Nater, San Antonio Spurs Coach of the Year: Babe McCarthy, Kentucky Colonels & Joe Mullaney, Utah Stars Playoffs MVP: Julius Erving, New York Nets All-Star Game MVP: Artis Gilmore, Kentucky Colonels Executive of the Year: Jack Ankerson, San Antonio Spurs All-ABA First Team Julius Erving, New York Nets (2nd First Team selection, 3rd overall selection) George McGinnis, Indiana Pacers (1st First Team selection, 2nd overall selection) Artis Gilmore, Kentucky Colonels (3rd selection) Jimmy Jones, Utah Stars (3rd selection) Mack Calvin, Carolina Cougars (2nd First Team selection, 3rd overall selection) All-ABA Second Team Dan Issel, Kentucky Colonels (3rd Second Team selection, 4th overall selection) Willie Wise, Utah Stars (2nd selection) Swen Nater, San Antonio Spurs Ron Boone, Utah Stars Louie Dampier, Kentucky Colonels (4th selection) All-Defensive Team Mike Gale (2nd selection), Kentucky Colonels Artis Gilmore (2nd selection), Kentucky Colonels Julius Keye (2nd selection), Denver Rockets Ted McClain, Carolina Cougars Roland Taylor, Virginia Squires Willie Wise (2nd selection), Utah Stars All-Rookie Team Mike Green, Denver Rockets Larry Kenon, New York Nets Bo Lamar, San Diego Conquistadors Swen Nater, Virginia Squires (traded to the San Antonio Spurs in November 1973) John Williamson, New York Nets
References
Season summary on Basketball Reference