Attorney Roy E. Brownell II Makes the Historical, Logical, and Moral Case for the NBA to Officially Count ABA Statistics
For over 20 years, I have insisted that ABA Numbers Should Also Count. I noted that--among other things--the list of Julius Erving's 40 point games is incomplete without including his ABA statistics, Julius Erving still holds the Nets' franchise single game scoring record, and Erving should be acknowledged by the NBA and its media partners as a member of the elite 30,000 point club.
In Setting the Record Straight: Why the NBA Needs to Officially Adopt ABA Statistics, 76 Ark. L. Rev. (2024), attorney Roy E. Brownell II articulates detailed, powerful, and multi-pronged historical, logical, and moral arguments regarding why the NBA's record book should officially include ABA statistics. His 87 page article deserves to be read in full--and should be required reading for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver--but it is important to outline the framework of Brownell's arguments so that the general public understands why this is such an important issue. Perhaps a groundswell of public opinion favoring the inclusion of ABA statistics in the NBA's record book is what it will take to fix a wrong that has existed for nearly 50 years.
Brownell begins by noting that when other major sports leagues merged they also merged their statistics, citing the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 and the combination of the American League and National League into Major League Baseball in 1903. Thus, both history and logic support the notion that when leagues merge their statistics should be combined and granted equal status.
Brownell bases the moral case on three prongs:
1) Black players had a significant impact on the ABA, so erasing the ABA's statistics also erases the story of that impact.
2) In 2022, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) agreed to provide additional pension benefits to ABA players, in essence acknowledging the ABA's major league status.
3) The NBA makes money by selling products with ABA logos, thus benefiting from the league's rich historical legacy while simultaneously refusing to officially recognize the ABA's statistics.
Brownell demonstrates that the modern game of basketball is in many ways built on the foundation laid by the ABA. Brownell provides a detailed discussion of the extent to which the NBA profits from the ABA without officially recognizing the ABA's statistics. Here, he summarizes the key points (footnotes omitted):
By officially acknowledging the dissolved league's statistics, the NBA would formally recognize that the ABA left a major impact on the surviving league in numerous interrelated ways: (1) contributing to a spike in interest in the NBA; (2) driving widespread acceptance of dunking and individual play; (3) pushing the NBA to adopt the three-point line; (4) moving the emphasis of the game from the post to the wing; (5) influencing the location of NBA franchises; and (6) providing new financial and marketing opportunities for the NBA. Reflected former NBA great Walt Frazier, in today's game, "The whole NBA is the ABA...[A]ll we got to do is color the ball red, white and blue." George Karl, longtime NBA coach and veteran of both leagues, expressed similar sentiments. "[T]he way the game is played
today is very ABA-ish."
Brownell points out that the NBA and its teams have conducted marketing promotions when certain players have reached career milestones that include ABA statistics (including Dan Issel and Julius Erving joining the 20,000 point club), yet the NBA's official position is that those players did not achieve those career milestones. Brownell quotes Bill Livingston regarding the NBA's shameful hypocrisy:
My, how sagging attendance can change management's viewpoint. In the past, the 76ers, with all the haughty disdain of an old-line NBA team, treated records set in the old American Basketball Association as something darn near fraudulent. But the Sixers, trying to hype their gate by any means possible, have started trumpeting a 20,000-point night for Julius Erving...Only catch is, 11,662 of Dr. J's points came in the ABA. The old-line clubs won't recognize [ABA records]...but, when a few bucks can be made, it is apparently a different story.
The ABA originated the Slam Dunk Contest and the concept of All-Star Weekend (as opposed to just playing an All-Star Game without having other side events). The ABA helped popularize the three point shot, which the NBA began using in 1979 (three years after the ABA-NBA merger). The NBA has profited greatly from All-Star Weekend and the three point shot, so it is morally wrong to profit from the ABA's legacy while refusing to grant official status to ABA statistics. Unfortunately, the NBA has demonstrated that its top priority is increasing their profits, not doing what is right.
Brownell believes that his article provides the first long-form and in depth analysis of not just the specific issue of the NBA refusing to officially count ABA statistics but also of the broader issue of how to determine major league status across professional leagues. Brownell acknowledges the short form work of various authors (he cites my writing seven times).
It is inexcusable that the
NBA arrogantly refuses to officially recognize the ABA's statistics.
I hope that Adam Silver and the NBA's media partners read Brownell's article and immediately grant official recognition to the ABA's statistics.
Labels: ABA, Adam Silver, Julius Erving, NBA, Roy E. Brownell II
posted by David Friedman @ 3:01 PM
