It gave us the three-point shot, a red-white-and-blue ball, and bikini-clad cheerleaders.
It brought playground "cool" to the arena, including players in platform shoes, full-length mink coats and towering Afros.It introduced the air game, and Tommy Bowens, who could dunk from two feet behind the foul line, as well as Julius Erving, whose hang time was such that he could contemplate three different shots on his way to the hoop.
It permitted characters such as Lefty Thomas, who played with a ring on every finger, and A.W. Holt, who refused to sign a contract, saying "I made up my mind before I came here that unless I got a $1,000 bonus, I wasn't going to sign. But all they offered me was $1,500."
The American Basketball Association was a haven for the unwanted and unprecedented, the radical and roguish. So when four ABA teams joined the NBA in 1976, the result was a less plodding, edgier NBA, although the older league didn't immediately appreciate its inheritance.
"When the leagues merged, the NBA owners and executives would look down their noses at the ABA people, if they bothered to look at us at all," former Denver Rockets coach Bob Bass said in the book, "Loose Balls."
"They acted like we didn't deserve to be in the same room with them.
Never would you find such arrogance in the ABA."
The ABA was too busy trying to save itself from extinction. Although it began in 1967 with 11 franchises, only the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets and San Antonio Spurs made it to the merger.
Times were bleak for the NBA in 1976. The NFL, major league baseball and Muhammad Ali's super fights had pushed it to the margins of pro sport. Playoff games weren't prime-time fare.
The ABA's three-point shot immediately enlivened the NBA. Dr. J's air game took it over the top. Instead of despairing over a moribund half-court game, hoop fanatics marveled at Erving's fly-over magic, which launched a revolution in the NBA.
"No one has ever controlled and conquered the air above pro basketball like Julius Erving, the incomparable 'Dr. J,' " Newsweek's Pete Axthelm wrote. "The Doctor not only leaps and stays aloft longer than most players dream possible, but he uses his air time to transform the sport into graceful ballet, breathtaking drama or science-fiction fantasy depending upon his mood of the moment and the needs of his team."
Spencer Haywood did his bit for the revolution, offering a glimpse of free agency. After playing a season for Trinidad State Junior College, and a season for the University of Detroit, Haywood joined the Denver Rockets, becoming the first player in the current era to leave college early for a professional basketball career. Haywood was chosen ABA rookie of the year and most valuable player after the 1969-70 season. The next season he sent shockwaves through both leagues when he signed with the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics.
At the time, the NBA would not accept an undergraduate before his college class had graduated.
The NBA took Haywood and the Sonics to court. Haywood argued that as the sole wage earner in his large, struggling family, he was a "hardship case" and had a right to pursue a career. The Supreme Court agreed.
The ABA had its dark side, too. John Brisker set a record for meanness with the Pittsburgh Condors. His own teammates feared him. At one point the club hired a football player to keep Brisker from harming teammates.
It didn't take long for Brisker and the new hire to get into a shoving match. "I'm going to get my gun," the football player said. "I'm going to get mine," Brisker shouted back. Practice was canceled immediately.
To deal with the Brisker problem, Dallas coach Tom Nissalke offered a $500 reward to the first player who decked him. Lenny Chappell, a reserve, yelled, "How about starting me?" Nissalke agreed, thinking Chappell would show some restraint. Instead, as the ball went up on the opening center jump, Chappell floored Brisker. No one saw the blow; all eyes were on the ball.
Brisker became a mercenary soldier after his playing days. He died in a coup in Uganda.
The ABA spirit lives on.