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2019 ABA 1967-1968 Rookie Basketball Players is a limited production sports trading card set featuring iconic players from the ABA Basketball league such as Artis Gilmore, Billy Paultz, Darel Carrier, Larry Brown, and Bob Netolicky.Very Rare Production! U pick from thesse cardsshowcasing athletes from teams like the Indiana Pacers, Texas Chaparrals, and Kentucky Colonels. Manufactured by Lana Sports, this 1st edition set is a must-have for basketball card collectors looking to own a piece of ABA basketball history. Very limited. Only 750 total sets were produced!
These were some of greatest superstars of the ABA then Stars in the NBA!Limited Edition Lana Sport ABA Basketball cards. Choose your card from this set. This set includes base cards featuring players such as Connie Hawkins, Mel Daniels, Freddie Lewis, John Beasley, Trooper Washington, Dan Anderson, and Les Selvage, as well as cards from other teams like the Houston Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Oakland Oaks, Minnesota Muskies, Anaheim Amigos, and Pittsburgh Pipers. With a card thickness of 35 Pt., these original cards are a must-have for any ABA Basketball or basketball fan.This sports trading card set is an excellent addition to any collection and is perfect for those who love to collect cards from their favorite teams. Manufactured in the United States by Lana Sport. Don\'t miss out on the opportunity to own a piece of ABA Basketball history.The 1967–68 ABA season was the first season for the American Basketball Association. The ABA was challenging the National Basketball Association. The ABA introduced a red, white and blue basketball. They used a 30-second shot clock as opposed to the NBA\'s 24 second shot clock, and also used the three-point shot. There were 11 teams playing in the first season of the league, with each team playing a 78-game schedule.
HistoryThe American Basketball Association (ABA) was founded in 1967 by Dennis Murphy, former mayor of Buena Park, California, and Gary Davidson, an attorney from Orange County, California. George Mikan, a former National Basketball Association star best known for his career with the Minneapolis Lakers, was named as the league\'s first commissioner, saying that the ABA would avoid raiding the players from the NBA as the upstart league as it wanted to avoid legal issues relating to the reserve clause and hoped to avoid creating a offerding war for talent that would make player salaries unaffordable. Despite that, The New York Times reported that tentative offers had been made to Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain, who was offered a contract that would pay him $50,000 (half of what he was making with the Philadelphia 76ers) along with a 20% share of the team that started play as the New Jersey Americans.
By April 1967, the league announced that they would begin play for the 1967–68 season with 11 teams in two divisions. The Eastern Division would include teams representing Indianapolis, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, New York City (though that team later played primarily in the state of New Jersey instead at Teaneck this season due to a lack of suitable locations for the New York City team), Minneapolis and Pittsburgh, while the Western division would be made up of Anaheim, California, Dallas, Denver (previously Kansas City as the original, intended location for the team), Houston, New Orleans and Oakland. (Supposedly, according to sports historian author Robert Bradley in The Compendium of Professional Basketball, there was initially going to be a twelfth team added out in Milwaukee in the Eastern Division by the start of the 1967–68 ABA season, but that ultimately never came to fruition (likely due to the NBA later choosing it alongside Phoenix, Arizona as their newest locations at hand for their league expansion in 1968). Each team owner made a commitment that they would have the resources to run for at least three years on annual budgets of $500,000 and would be able to absorb any financial losses during that period.
With the first pick in the league\'s inaugural draft in April 1967, Indianapolis chose Jimmy Walker, who had been a collegiate All-American at Providence College, where his 30.4 points per game led all major college players. Walker was also the first pick in the 1967 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons and ended up playing his entire career in the NBA. Among its picks, New Orleans selected pole vaulter Bob Seagren \"because he is a great athlete and we think he can play pro basketball\", despite the fact that he had never played basketball at the college level. The 11 teams selected a total of 130 players.
In June 1967, NBA leading scorer Rick Barry left the San Francisco Warriors to sign with Oakland, making him the seventh player and the first superstar to defect to the upstart league. The landmark three-year contract offer from singer and team owner Pat Boone was estimated to be worth $500,000 and would make him one of basketball\'s highest-paid players. The agreement included 15 percent ownership in the franchise, which led Barry to remark, \"The offer Oakland made me was one I simply couldn\'t turn down.\" In August, however, a superior court judge upheld the reserve clause in Barry\'s contract and ruled that he was obligated to play for the Warriors or sit out for the entire season. Barry ultimately chose to sit out for the year, rather than play for San Francisco.
Mikan unveiled the league\'s distinctive red, white and blue official ball in August, calling it \"a patriotic ball\" and saying that it would be more appealing visually on television.
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