How the ABA changed basketball forever: Dr J, George Gervin and the league that dared to be different

Fifty summers after the ABA-NBA merger, George Gervin, Ralph Simpson and others reflect on the league whose swagger and innovations changed basketball forever After practice, George Gervin wanted to go home. He was a rookie playing for the Virginia Squires of the upstart American Basketball Association, and the sleek, Detroit-born hooper didn’t yet know what being a pro quite meant. He didn’t know that the real workouts often started after practice. But his teammate Julius “Dr J” Erving quickly…