If "Skyhook" Abdul-Abdul-Jabbar hadn't chosen the NBA at the time, would the history of world basketball be different from today's?
In 1969, one of the most important battles in the history of professional basketball, but this battle was no basketball, no screaming fans, no crowded arenas. Instead, the front line was in a hotel room in New York. The American Basketball Association has just finished its second season and is facing a deficit in red ink. Draft picks beat across the country like tigers drinking energy drinks. The NBA and ABA wage war for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the most promising college student of a generation, and both sides were given only one chance.
Abdul-Jabbar, who was still known as Lu Alcindo before embracing Islam, led UCLA to an 88-2 record and won three consecutive national championships. He was the most promising player in the 1969 draft who would strengthen the NBA's edge or bring the nascent ABA to market. The stakes are huge.
The ABA plans to get Karim Abdul-Jabbar
In Terry Pluto's ABA narrative history Loose Balls: Short and Crazy ABA: Former Indiana Pacers general manager Mike Storen is one of those executives who are plotting how to write Karim Abdul-Jabbar's name on the ABA contract. Due to their poor performance in the 1968–69 season, the New York Nets (1968–1976 ABA) had the number one pick in the ABA draft. The Milwaukee Bucks won a coin toss from the Phoenix Suns as the two NBA expansion teams finished last in their respective divisions.
After their respective drafts, Abdul-Jabbar told both sides he would spend a day at home in New York. He will field-visit the best offers for each league, make a decision, and then move on. Storen remembers that the ABA spent about $10,000 to investigate Abdul-Jabbar to determine a strategy. They learned two things.
"Alcindo will make his own decisions," Stolen said. "It won't be Sam Gilbert (assistant professor at UCLA and Agent for Abdul-Jabbar). Nor would it be UCLA coach John Woodden, or Alcindo's parents, or a friend. Alcindo had enough confidence in himself to decide for himself.
"Once he makes that decision, he'll stick with it. He has a lot of loyalty and you can have a lot of confidence in what he says. "
The ABA has a plan to make Abdul-Jabbar an instant millionaire. But ABA Commissioner George Mikan stepped in, and things changed.
The disaster of a $1 million check
The Basketball Association's plan to make Karim Abdul-Jabbar an immediate millionaire is only literal. They will offer a huge contract, but they will complete the deal by submitting him a $1 million promissory note.
Mikan went to a meeting with a check. The Nets made their first introduction, with Mikan (ABA commissioner) and Nets owner Arthur Brown making statements. The money will be the closest. Storen was confident, at least until Mikan left the meeting. "
"He came out and I said, 'That check can get us up to what we want, right?' Storen said. Mikan said, 'We decided that there was no need to give him our best offer.' We thought, when he comes back to us, then we're going to use this check for a second round of negotiations. I screamed, 'What have you done?' "
Mikan told Storen that Abdul-Jabbar would be back after getting an offer from Milwaukee. When Storen asked the commissioner if the player had made the statement, the answer was not what he wanted to hear. Mikan said: "The kid did say he would make a decision. "
Storen exploded. "I was really screaming. You stupid guys, if you're not going to use this information, why are we spending so much money to understand it? How can you not give him a check? "
It's all over. Abdul-Jabbar accepted a five-year, $1.4 million offer from the Bucks. The ABA tried to give him a check at the airport, but it was too late. The ABA lost.
Mikan (ABA commissioner) resigned shortly after the Karim Abdul-Abdul negotiations ended. He told Pluto that he didn't think the ABA had ever had a chance.
"I can't prove that Alcindo made a deal with the NBA beforehand, but I think he did. We never had the opportunity to negotiate. I knew that Alcindo's parents had tears in their eyes when they saw the check, and couldn't accept it. In fact, I still have a copy of that million dollar check. "
We now know what the outcome will be. The ABA persisted until 1976, when four teams joined the NBA in a merger. Abdul-Jabbar played 20 seasons in the NBA, winning a record 6 NBA MVPs and retiring as the most scoring player in league history.
For those old enough to remember the ABA, this is still the most prominent "if" problem. If Mikan had given Karim Abdul-Abdul-Abdbar a check for $1 million, how different would basketball history have been?