How the Nets-Knicks rivalry evolved from Dr. J to a move to Brooklyn 🔗 🏀 🗽 🔴🔵⚪️⚫️

A look at an oft-told tale of how the Nets lost a superstar… and a less-told one about how they got just a bit of revenge years later.

As the NBA and ABA finalized merger talks in 1976, the Nets and Knicks were on different trajectories … and the Knicks knew it. The NBA club had won their second championship in 1973 but by 1976, when the merger talks were underway, New York was a shell of its championship years. Meanwhile, the Nets were the strongest team in the ABA. They had won the championship in 1974 and again in 1976 with the league’s reigning superstar Dr. J (then 25) leading a group of talented young players….