American Basketball Association (2000–present)

The American Basketball Association, often abbreviated as ABA, is an American semi-professional men's basketball league that was founded in 1999. The current ABA has no affiliation with the original American Basketball Association that merged with the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1976.

History
The current ABA was started up by Joe Newman and Richard Tinkham. Tinkham was an executive with the Indiana Pacers when they were in the original ABA. They licensed the ABA name from the NBA.

2000–2003
The league first began play in 2000 with eight teams. During this time, the league focused mainly on teams in larger cities. To attract fans, the ABA had rosters with former NBA players and past college basketball stars with local ties. The league suspended operations during the 2002-2003 season for reorganization. After returning one season to help rebuild, league focus was changed, from a few teams in large cities to many teams in large and medium cities, set up in regional groups. This was due in part to lowering the franchise fees down to $10,000 from $50,000 and not requiring a bond to start a team. This reduced operating costs and allowed several cities to get into the league that otherwise wouldn't. However, it also resulted in several ownership groups being badly underfinanced. Over the last decade, this has resulted in the creation of several new teams, but many of them haven't finished the season.

2004–2006
The 2004-2005 season was the first under this new format, with 37 teams playing that season. Each season, the number of teams grew, with both successful teams and teams that didn't complete the season. The ABA had 50+ teams playing in a season. Some stories of successful expansion franchises were the Arkansas RimRockers in 2004 and the Rochester Razorsharks in 2005. Both won an ABA title in the team's First season.

2006–2007
The 2006-2007 season saw the cost for a new expansion franchise raised to $20,000, but many still sold for $5,000 - $10,000 and less, in some cases going as low as $1. One notable 2006-2007 expansion franchise was the Vermont Frost Heaves, owned by Sports Illustrated writer Alexander Wolff. Also in 2006-2007, former NBA player John Salley was named league commissioner, and Maryland Nighthawks owner Tom Doyle was named chief operating officer.

Following the league's first public offering in 2006, it was reported that Joe Newman was voted out of his position as league CEO. A form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2007 claimed the ABA Board of Directors removed Newman as league CEO on January 31, 2007. It went on to state that Newman's actions as league CEO would be reviewed to ensure that they were performed with the Board's permission. The same filing also claimed that Newman and other shareholders plotted to remove Tom Doyle, John Salley, and David Howitt from the Board and elect Paul Riley as its director. Newman denied his removal ever occurred, and continued as acting CEO. The lawsuits were settled in March 2007 with Doyle's and Salley's resignations from the league Board of Directors.

The 2006-2007 season saw many franchises fail to travel to road games or play a full schedule. When a weather problem required a postponement of a playoff game between the defending champion Rochester Razorsharks and the Wilmington Sea Dawgs, instead of letting the two teams reschedule, the league wanted to force Rochester to forfeit. Rochester instead withdrew from the league. This incident, coupled with the CEO v. COO intrigue, caused to some league owners to become frustrated with the instability of the league and separate to form the Premier Basketball League (PBL).

2007–2009
The 2007-2008 season saw nearly twenty teams fold within its first five weeks, and several remaining teams left the ABA to join other existing leagues. According to Our Sports Central, only around 35% of the games were actually played in the 2007-08 season. The teams that played the highest percentage of games were Vermont, the Manchester (NH) Millrats, and the Quebec Kebs. Those three teams would leave to the PBL at the conclusion of the season. Another team that only played home games was Beijing Aoshen Olympians. This team was kicked out of the Chinese Basketball League and played home games in Singapore. Beijing would pay $3000 and fly teams to Singapore for a 2-game homestand. Early teams complained on Our Sports Central that they were forced to stay in a hotel that doubled as a brothel. Joe Newman CEO forced Beijing to find a new hotel on hearing this news. Later teams stayed in a Holiday Inn.

The league's most successful franchise by attendance, the Halifax Rainmen, left the ABA, citing frustration with teams not showing up for games, as well as a biased ranking system. Numerous sportswriters essentially referred to the ABA as a joke, and not to be taken seriously.

The 2008-2009 season saw the league conduct interleague play with the Continental Basketball Association.

2009–2010
The 2009-2010 season was scheduled to have over 50 teams. The season ended with several teams folding, starting in early December, including the entire northwest division. The league playoffs also had several games cancelled due to teams unable to afford travel, including a semi-final playoff game. The playoffs ended with Southeast Texas Mustangs defeating Kentucky Bisons in a three game series.

On April 25, 2010 as part of their ABA Global initiative, the ABA hosted the 2010 ABA Friendship Games, where the Philippine National Basketball Team competed against teams from the ABA.

2010–2011
The 2010-2011 season was expected to field over 60 teams. It was also announced that a new Canadian Division would be formed in 2010. A team based out of Toronto will join the ABA prior to a formation of the Canadian Division when more Canadian teams have been formed. In the summer the league announced the first Haitian pro-basketball team, Haitian Relief. The league planned to host over 800 games combined amongst the teams.

In the end though, it was the same as previous seasons, with many teams disappearing before the season and during the season. Fewer than 50 full-time teams played games. The 2011 ABA All-Star Game resulted in a 123-122 Eastern conference win over the West, in front of a crowd of 4,488 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The playoffs started the next weekend, with the last four teams playing a double elimination tournament at the home of Southeast Texas Mavericks, who won their second ABA title two games to none over the Gulf Coast Flash. The league planned to form the Women's American Basketball Association (WABA) league, unrelated to the original Women's American Basketball Association, another league which existed for one whole season in 2002. The new league's first squad was to be located in Greenville, North Carolina.

2012–2013
After the unsuccessful attempt to launch the WABA in the 2011-12 season, the league announced it would re-launch it during the 2012-13 season.

Defunct teams
The ABA method of handing franchises to anybody who is willing to buy one, with no consideration to whether the person can afford it or not, resulted in over 200 folded franchises as of the beginning of the 2008 season.

Former teams that joined other leagues

 * Arkansas RimRockers - joined NBA Development League, folded
 * Beijing Olympians - joined West Coast Pro Basketball League
 * Bellingham Slam - now in International Basketball League
 * Bluegrass Stallions - joined Premier Basketball League, folded
 * Charlotte Krunk - joined Continental Basketball Association as Atlanta Krunk, went to Premier Basketball League as Augusta Groove, folded
 * Chicago Throwbacks - joined Premier Basketball League, folded
 * Corning Bulldogs - joined Eastern Basketball Alliance as Elmira Bulldogs, folded
 * Detroit Panthers - joined Premier Basketball League, folded
 * Florida Pit Bulls - joined Continental Basketball Association as East Kentucky Miners, rejoined ABA, then folded
 * Georgia Knights - now in Universal Basketball Association as Georgia Lions
 * Georgia Razors - joined Continental Basketball League
 * Halifax Rainmen - joined Premier Basketball League, moved to National Basketball League of Canada
 * Heartland Prowl - now in Continental Basketball League
 * Indiana Alley Cats - joined Continental Basketball Association, folded
 * Indiana Diesels - now in Premier Basketball League
 * Jacksonville JAM - joined Premier Basketball League, expelled from league midway through 2008 season
 * Lake Michigan Admirals - now in Premier Basketball League
 * Long Beach Jam - now in NBA Development League as Bakersfield Jam
 * Manchester Millrats - joined Premier Basketball League, moved to National Basketball League of Canada as Saint John Mill Rats
 * Maryland Marvels - now in Eastern Basketball Alliance
 * Maryland Nighthawks - joined Premier Basketball League, moved to Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League as Washington GreenHawks, folded
 * North Texas Fresh - moved to Universal Basketball Association
 * Northeast Pennsylvania Breakers - joined United States Basketball League, folded after one season there
 * Northwestern Indiana Magical Stars - joined Premier Basketball League as Northwest Indiana Stars, ejected from league, now folded
 * Oklahoma Cavalry - joined Continental Basketball Association, changed name to Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry, moved to Premier Basketball League, folded
 * Pittsburgh Xplosion - joined Continental Basketball Association, folded
 * Quad City Riverhawks - joined Premier Basketball League, folded
 * Quebec Kebs - joined Premier Basketball League, moved to National Basketball League of Canada
 * Reading Railers - joined Premier Basketball League, folded
 * Rochester Razorsharks - now in Premier Basketball League
 * Rockford Riverdawgs - now in Independent Basketball Association
 * Rock River Fury - joined Premier Basketball League as Rockford Fury then folded.
 * San Jose SkyRockets - joined Continental Basketball Association as Minot SkyRockets, folded
 * SoCal Legends - joined Continental Basketball Association, folded
 * Vancouver Dragons - joined Continental Basketball Association, folded
 * Vermont Frost Heaves - joined Premier Basketball League, folded in January 2011
 * Waco Wranglers - now in United Basketball League as Texas Wranglers
 * Wilmington Sea Dawgs - joined Premier Basketball League then moved to Continental Basketball League then moved to the Tobacco Road Basketball League

All-Star Game results

 * 2002 ABA All-Star Game - Kansas City Knights defeated ABA All-Stars, 161-138 (Kemper Arena)
 * 2005 ABA All-Star Game - West defeated East, 163-149 (Las Vegas Sports Center)
 * 2006 ABA All-Star Game - East defeated West, 129-127 (BankAtlantic Center)
 * 2007 ABA All-Star Game - West defeated East, 138-123 (Halifax Metro Centre)
 * 2008 ABA All-Star Game - East defeated West, 161-140 (Barre Auditorium)
 * 2011 ABA All-Star Game - East defeated West, 123-122 (Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena)
 * 2013 ABA All-Star Game - East defeated West, 198-141 (South Suburban College)

Player of the Year

 * 2001-2002 - Pete Mickeal, Kansas City Knights
 * 2003-2004 - Joe Crispin, Kansas City Knights
 * 2004-2005 - Kareem Reid, Arkansas RimRockers
 * 2005-2006 - Chris Carrawell, Rochester Razorsharks
 * 2006-2007 - James James Marrow
 * 2008-2009 - DeRon Rutledge, Southeast Texas Mavericks

Coach of the Year

 * 2003-2004 - Earl Cureton, Long Beach Jam
 * 2004-2005 - Rick Turner, Bellevue Blackhawks
 * 2005-2006 - Rod Baker, Rochester Razorsharks
 * 2006-2007 - Will Voigt, Vermont Frost Heaves
 * 2007-2008 - Will Voigt, Vermont Frost Heaves
 * 2008-2009 - Otis Key, Kentucky Bisons

Executive of the Year

 * 2003-2004 - Rafael Fitzmaurice, Juarez Gallos
 * 2004-2005 - Michael Tuckman, Bellevue Blackhawks
 * 2005-2006 - Orest Hrywnak, Rochester Razorsharks
 * 2006-2007 - Felix Krupczynski, Jacksonville JAM
 * 2008-2009 - Jay Sills, Kentucky Bisons

MVP - Championship Game

 * 2000-2001 - Gee Gervin and Ndongo N'Diaye, Detroit Dogs
 * 2001-2002 - Pete Mickeal, Kansas City Knights
 * 2004-2005 - Kareem Reid, Arkansas RimRockers
 * 2005-2006 - Chris Carrawell, Rochester Razorsharks
 * 2008-2009 - Michael James, Kentucky Bisons
 * 2011-2012 - Jermaine Bell, Jacksonville Giants

MVP - All-Star Game

 * 2001-2002 - Maurice Carter, Kansas City Knights
 * 2004-2005 - Lou Kelly, West
 * 2005-2006 - Armen Gilliam, East
 * 2006-2007 - Billy Knight, West
 * 2007-2008 - Anthony Anderson, East
 * 2012-2013 - Maurice Mickens, East

Community Service

 * 2006-2007 - Modie Cox, Buffalo Silverbacks