1975–76 San Antonio Spurs season

ABA basketball team season March 2026 August 2023 San Antonio Spurs ABA 1976 50 34 Western 2 3 Bob Bass John Begzos HemisFair Arena Angelo DrossosJohn SchaeferRed McCombs ABA Semifinals(lost to Nets 3–4) SAS KMOL 4 WOAI The 1975–76 San Antonio Spurs season was the third season for the franchise while in San Antonio, their ninth overall season when including the seasons they played as the Dallas Chaparrals in Dallas and the one season they went as the Texas Chaparrals representing the entire state of Texas as a regional franchise (specifically playing in both Lubbock and Fort Worth alongside Dallas), and their final season they played as a franchise while out in the ABA. Despite being one of three teams to lose to the short-lived San Diego Sails rebranded franchise alongside the Utah Stars and Virginia Squires (both of whom would later fold operations themselves during this season), the Spurs would make it into the 1976 ABA Playoffs as the third-best team in the entire league behind only the New York Nets and Denver Nuggets, though the Spurs would lose 4–3 to the eventual champion New York Nets (led by the future-named ABA All-Time MVP Julius Erving) in the ABA Semifinals. Despite never winning a playoff series out in San Antonio as the Spurs and only winning one total playoff series in their entire history while in the ABA (that being during their inaugural season against the Houston Mavericks as the Dallas Chaparrals), the Spurs would be admitted to the National Basketball Association (NBA) along with what were considered the other three strongest teams in the ABA in the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers, and the most recent (and final) ABA champion New York Nets (now Brooklyn Nets) following the conclusion of the ABA-NBA merger talks in June 1976 due to the Spurs quickly being the highest-growing attending team in the ABA despite only having three seasons spent in San Antonio and having the second-smallest venue of the ABA teams that survived the regular season ahead of only the Virginia Squires' multiple smaller venues, as well as the smallest venue of every ABA team around once the merger occurred. The team's fortunes would only grow for the better in later seasons once they spent more time within the NBA, to the point of having the best success of all previous ABA teams post-merger with five NBA Finals championships to their name (having more championships going forward in the NBA than even the Indiana Pacers during their time in the ABA). ABA Draft 1975 ABA draft Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 1 8 Mark Olberding SF/PF USA United States Minnesota 2 21 Rick Suttle C USA United States Kansas 3 28 Bill Taylor SF USA United States La Salle College 4 38 Ken Smith SG USA United States Tulsa 5 48 Robert Parish C USA United States Centenary College of Louisiana 6 58 Bayard Forrest C USA United States Grand Canyon 7 68 Henry Ward SG USA United States Jackson State 8 78 Gary Tomaszewski SF/PF USA United States St. Mary's University of Texas The Spurs' 48th pick in the final ABA Draft ever held, Robert Parish, would be the only non-Denver Nuggets associated selection/player from this draft to either be named an All-Star or a Hall of Famer in his career, as while he would never play with the Spurs or join the ABA at all, he would grow a storied career in the 1980s with the Boston Celtics in the NBA as a major rival to the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers before winning one last NBA Finals championship (out of four total) in his final season of play in 1997 with the Chicago Bulls at 43 years old as the third-oldest player in NBA history behind Kevin Willis and Nat Hickey (as of 2025). Roster San Antonio Spurs 1975–76 #000000 #CDD6DB #CDD6DB #000000 30 Allan Bristow SF 6 7 210 August 23, 1951 Virginia Tech 25 Coby Dietrick C 6 10 220 July 23, 1948 San Jose State 23 Will Franklin basketball PF 6 7 220 October 19, 1949 Purdue 12 Mike Gale SG 6 4 185 July 18, 1950 Elizabeth City State University 44 George Gervin SF 6 7 180 April 27, 1952 Eastern Michigan 23 Stew Johnson PF 6 8 220 August 19, 1944 Murray State 22 George Karl PG 6 2 190 May 12, 1951 UNC 35 Larry Kenon PF 6 9 205 December 13, 1952 Memphis 53 Mark Olberding PF 6 8 225 April 21, 1956 u Minnesota 42 Tom Owens C 6 10 215 June 28, 1949 South Carolina 5 Billy Paultz C 6 11 235 July 30, 1948 St. John's 13 James Silas PG 6 1 180 February 11, 1949 Stephen F. Austin 52 Ken Smith basketball, born 1953 SF 6 7 185 July 12, 1953 Tulsa 30 Dennis Van Zant PF 6 9 210 June 1, 1952 Azusa Pacific University 15 Henry Ward basketball SG 6 4 195 January 30, 1952 Jackson State University 10 Skip Wise PG 6 2 170 July 25, 1955 Clemson Bob Bass Regular season ABA Schedule Game Date Opponent Result Spurs Opponents Record 1 2 1974–75 San Antonio Games – Basketball-Reference.com Season standings + Team W L PCT. GB Denver Nuggets * 60 24 .714 — New York Nets * 55 29 .655 5 San Antonio Spurs * 50 34 .595 10 Kentucky Colonels * 46 38 .548 14 Indiana Pacers * 39 45 .464 21 Spirits of St. Louis 35 49 .417 25 Virginia Squires † 15 68 .181 44 San Diego Sails † 3 8 .273 — Utah Stars † 4 12 .250 — Baltimore Claws † 0 0 .000 — Asterisk (*) denotes playoff team † did not survive the end of the season.Bold – ABA champions1975-76 ABA Season Summary - Basketball-Reference.com ABA Playoffs San Antonio Spurs 1976 yes #000000 #CDD6DB San Antonio Spurs ABA Semifinals yes no yes #CDD6DB #000000 2 1 1 3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 1 |April 9 | @ New York | L 101–116 |George Gervin (30 |Billy Paultz / Mike Gale (7) |George Karl (4) |Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum8,221 | 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 2 | April 11 | @ New York | W 105–79 |Larry Kenon (30) |Billy Paultz (18) |Mike Gale (13) |Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum5,769 | 1–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 3 | April 14 |New York | W 111–103 |Larry Kenon (28) |Larry Kenon (16) |Mike Gale (11) |HemisFair Arena10,009 | 2–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 4 | April 18 |New York | L 108–110 |Billy Paultz / George Gervin (28) |Billy Paultz (12) |Billy Paultz (5) |HemisFair Arena9,277 | 2–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 5 | April 19 | @ New York | L 108–110 |Larry Kenon (27) |Larry Kenon (12) |Mike Gale (8) |Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum11,321 | 2–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 6 | April 21 | New York | W 106–105 |George Gervin (37) |Larry Kenon (18) |Mike Gale / Billy Paultz (5) |HemisFair Arena10,484 | 3–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 7 | April 24 | @ New York | L 114–121 |George Gervin (31) |Larry Kenon (11) |Mike Gale (6) | Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum15,934 | 3–4 |- SAA 1976 yes Spurs lose series, 4–3 References 35em External links Spurs on Basketball Reference RememberTheABA.com 1975–76 regular season and playoff results RememberTheABA.com San Antonio Spurs page RememberTheABA.com 1975–76 game by game results San Antonio Category:San Antonio Spurs seasons San Antonio San Antonio