Pacers Title Run Would Leave Nets as Only ABA Team Without NBA Championship
While many are concerned with who the Brooklyn Nets draft and/or trade for this summer, a longtime beatwriter is making realizations that show just how barren Brooklyn's trophy case has been in recent years.
In response to the Indiana Pacers' game two win over the New York Knicks and ahead of tonight's game three, Bob Windrem of NetsDaily took to X with a mind-blowing statistic.
"If Pacers win NBA championship, they’ll be third former ABA team to win a title in NBA, other two being Spurs (5 times) and Nuggets once. That would leave only one former ABA team without an NBA trophy: the team that won last ABA title: the New York (now Brooklyn) Nets," Windrem posted.
On May 13, 1976, Julius Erving led the New York Nets to a 112-106 game six win over the Denver Nuggets to earn the franchise its second championship title of the decade. Almost an exact month later, the ABA merged with the NBA and the New Jersey Nets were born.
Ever since "The Doctor" was the face of the organization, times have been tough. The Nets had two chances at NBA glory in the early 2000s, when Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin fell to the Kobe and Shaq Los Angeles Lakers (2002) and Tim Duncan San Antonio Spurs (2003).
The Spurs obviously ended up having one of the most dominant dynasties in the sport's history, while the Nuggets earned their title with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray nearly two years ago. If Tyrese Haliburton and company can close out the Knicks and ride their momentum to a ring, Brooklyn would be left the lone former ABA team that's been unable to sit atop the NBA world.
Windrem's post really puts things in perspective. Brooklyn has boasted countless star-studded lineups over the last 50 years, including the Kidd era of the 2000s, the Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett-Deron Williams-Joe Johnson-Brook Lopez era of the 2010s and the shortlived Kyrie Irving-Kevin Durant-James Harden era of the 2020s.
The Nets have had their chances to climb the mountain, but may remain the only team staring up at its former ABA counterparts depending on what June has in store.
