Julius Erving has his name spelt wrong by his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, as he’s present for Sixers-Lakers in Philly.
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Julius Erving had already established himself as a professional basketball superstar well before reaching the Philadelphia 76ers. His first stint with a team in the realm of professional basketball was with the Virginia Squires in the 1972 ABA season.
He would eventually become a part of the NBA after teams within the ABA became cash-strapped, leading to the famous 1976 NBA-ABA merger.
The New York Nets, the team that Erving was on prior to the merger, did not have the financial stability to keep a high profile star like Dr. J on their team, especially after paying $4.8 million to the Knicks for impeding on their territory. The Philadelphia 76ers swooped in and snagged him from the open market by buying his $3 million contract.
He was very much still the same old Julius Erving with the Sixers as he was in the ABA. He would play second fiddle to Moses Malone in a 1983 NBA championship for Philly as well.
The Philadelphia 76ers spelt ‘Julius Erving’ the wrong way.
Julius Erving was an 11x All-Star for the Sixers, essentially every single season he was with them. By that metric alone, it should be a pre-disposed notion that Dr. J is Sixers royalty. Him showing up to the Lakers-76ers game must’ve been a good omen as his former squad blew out the purple and gold at Wells Fargo Center.
How did the Sixers repay Erving? By spelling his name wrong on the Jumbotron. It should be very clear by the banner that hangs above Wells Fargo Center that his name is not spelt ‘Irving’. Someone didn’t get the memo and effectively disrespected the Philly legend.
