After the ABA-NBA merger in 1976, Julius Erving joined the Philadelphia 76ers, bringing the City of Brotherly Love close to the championship during his first few seasons, before finally lifting the trophy in 1983. However, Erving’s career almost looked very different, as he was trying to team up with Pete Maravich a few years before the merger.
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Dr. J was on Mark Jackson’s podcast when he shared his feelings about his stint in Atlanta. “I really, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually wanted to be in Atlanta,” began the 74-year-old. Enamored by the city and its culture, Erving signed a deal with the Hawks, even though he had just played his rookie campaign with the ABA’s Virginia Squires.
“I didn’t go to the Squires’ camp, I went to camp in Atlanta. And it was me, Maravich, Lou Hudson, Walt Bellamy, Don Adams. That was the team right there… We played like a couple of exhibition games. We were scoring like 135, 140.“
The late Pete Maravich is often left out of the conversation of historically great guards, but his impact on the game is undeniable. Pistol Pete was a shoot-first, pass-second guard who displayed a level of ball handling that the league hadn’t witnessed up until that point.
Erving was excited to team up with such a talent. “Playing with Pete was awesome, man. He was getting 30, I was getting 30,” he shared. However, that legendary offensive unit wouldn’t make it past the pre-season.
The Virginia Squires, who had signed Erving to a 4-year deal in 1971, took the case to court while Dr. J played exhibition games with the Hawks. Simultaneously, he had also become eligible for the NBA Draft, where the Milwaukee Bucks had won his rights, creating a contract dispute between three basketball teams across two professional leagues. Dr. J explained,
“But NBA shut it down man, they shut it down…They said, ‘Every time you play him, it’s going to cost y’all $25,000. The owner was a billionaire, he could have paid that $25,000. He was like, ‘No, no, no, I ain’t paying no $25,000. You got to sit down.’“
Erving got to play a third pre-season game with the Hawks while the owners made their decision. But shortly after, he was benched in Atlanta before returning to Virginia per a court injunction. He exploded for 31.9 points per game that season, spurred on by the incredible (if not illegal) training camp and exhibition game experience he had accumulated.
Though it was a brief moment in NBA history, Dr. J remembers his stint with the Hawks fondly. “It really was one of the joys of my life to play with Pete, to be in training camp with him,” the Hall of Famer added in later interviews. If only Tom Cousins, then-owner of the Hawks, had shelled out the fines, basketball in the 70s would have seen a radically different landscape.
