Why did the ABA’s first two champs skip town? (Basketball Mysteries of the 1970s #4) - a podcast by Over and Back NBA Podcast

Why the first two ABA champions immediately abandoned their cities is examined in the fourth episode of the Over and Back Classic NBA podcast’s summer series — Basketball Mysteries of the 1970s. Jason Mann and Rich Kraetsch discuss the 1967-68 Pittsburgh Pipers led by Connie Hawkins and the 1968-69 Oakland Oaks led by Rick Barry (and owned by famed singer Pat Boone).

Discussion topics include: how much Hawkins dominated the first year of the ABA, the Pipers being the first team to embrace the 3-pointer, Pittsburgh’s inspiring Finals comeback after Hawkins injured his knee, the Pipers moving to Minnesota because Commissioner George Mikan wanted a team in his hometown, lots of dysfunction including a fistfight between the Pipers’ coach and chairman at an all-star banquet, why the Pipers failed there and then moved BACK to Pittsburgh, how the Oaks wooed Barry from the NBA, Warren Jabali’s penchant for fighting, how Larry Brown and Doug Moe couldn’t stay away from each other, the Oaks rolling despite a season-ending injury to Barry, how Boone almost got into financial trouble because of the Oaks, their move to Washington D.C. and how Barry fought to return to the NBA, and how the franchise eventually ended up in Virginia, with Barry forcing a trade to the Nets.

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