Let’s start with a hypothetical. If you were an NBA team owner, would you rather have $5m1 cash or the rights to maybe the best basketball player in the world at 26 years old? Imagine adding Anthony Edwards or Luka Doncic to your team right now for nothing. This should be a no brainer, right? You take the player. Well, this was exactly the situation that was presented to the New York Knicks in the summer of 1976. Despite not needing the money, the Knicks held fast to their demand and insisted on the money. That’s how Julius Erving became a Sixer and not a Knick. How did this happen?
That summer, the New York Nets were set to join the NBA fresh off an ABA championship. Their best player was 3-time MVP Julius Erving and he would be joined by newest acquisition Tiny Archibald to form a fantastic duo as the team entered the league. The future was looking good if not for one big problem. The Knicks.
Knicks owner Ned Irish was not too happy to have the Nets move in on his turf and tried to block the move. Even though the Nets just paid a $3.2m expansion fee, the NBA listened to Irish’s complaint and made the Nets fork over another $5m for the right to the Knicks exclusive territory, calling it an “invasion fee.” After paying the initial fee, Nets owner Roy Boe did not have that kind of extra scratch lying around. In fact, he had promised Erving a raise which he now would not be able to afford.
In order to find a solution, the Nets offered the Knicks Erving, their best player, straight up if they would agree to waive the invasion fee. The Knicks turned them down and demanded the money. The Nets were in a horrible spot and were forced to offer Erving around the NBA in order to raise the needed cash. Shortly before the season was to start, the Sixers offered $3m for Dr. J and the rest is history.
Think about this for a minute. This Knicks teams was only 3 years removed from its last championship but their stars Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe, and Bill Bradley were all in their 30s now. They needed somebody to be the new face of Knicks basketball. Facing coming mediocrity, serendipitously Julius Erving was offered from the heavens. Erving was 26-years-old and grew up in New York City. He was already a legend, was the ideal fit for the Knicks, and was being given to them FOR NOTHING!!! Ownership chose $5m instead.
Dr. J would go on to be the face of Sixers basketball for the next decade. He would win MVP in 1981, be named All-NBA 1st Team five times, and won the NBA championship for one of the best teams ever in 1983. The Knicks didn’t win a championship until this year, a drought since 1973.
The real victim here is the Nets. They were the crown jewel of the ABA and thought they had it all figured out at the merger. They had a star duo and were ready to take the spotlight from their city rival. Instead, they were forced to sell their best player after the NBA moved the goal post. They would move to NJ the next season and wouldn’t be truly competitive for another 25 years.
- In all fairness, with inflation, this would be about $28m today. ↩︎
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