Expansion and Franchise Relocation:

During the 1970’s the NBA continued to expand with the Buffalo Braves, Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers joining the league for the 1970-71 season. The New Orleans Jazz later joined the league in 1974. Furthermore, in 1976, the ABA (American Basketball Association) merged with the NBA in 1976. This merger brought 4 new teams to the NBA which were the Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers and New York Nets. After expansion in the 70s the league now had 22 teams, up from 14 at the end of the 60s.

Additionally, a substantial number of teams relocated in the 70s which increased the presence of the NBA in more parts of the country, attracting new fans. Due to the addition of teams in new citied basketball and the NBA became further popularised as a whole. By the end of the 70s the average player salary increased from $35,000 ($224,000 today) in the early 70s to $180,000 ($641,000 today).

Rule changes and innovations:

Although dunks had already been done before, it wasn’t until the 1970s that the slam dunk became a mainstream skill that rapidly gained popularity amongst players and fans. Furthermore, the ABA encouraged a more extravagant playstyle where dunks became widely popular in the league. Therefore, with the merger of the ABA with the NBA, players from the ABA helped popularise the dunk and other flashy moves in the NBA as well.

Not to mention the 3 point line was introduced in 1979 after it was already introduced in the ABA over a decade earlier in 1967. The 3 point line was added in order to increase scoring opportunities and according to ABA commissioner, George Mikan it would “give the smaller player a chance to score and open up the defence to make the game more enjoyable to fans".

Playstyle:

The playstyle in the 1970s was in many ways similar to the 60s with fast paced and team oriented play. With this playstyle fast breaks became popular where you would try to get the ball quickly to the other end of the court after a rebound or turnover in order to beat the defence. This usually led to high scoring games. Playing close to the basket and capitalising on tall centres like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still the dominant playstyle much like the previous decades, however mid-range shooting was still prominent. To add, players also started to focus on individual plays more and more acrobatic moves, especially since dunking became popularised.

Additionally, due to the three point line being introduced, this encouraged more long distance shooting. Although, players didn’t attempt three pointers as often as they weren't yet specifically training for long distance shooting. Due to this, shooting three pointers was considered inefficient and unnecessary compared to making an easy two points. Coaches only encouraged players to shoot three pointers when they were down by a large deficit at the end of a game.

Notable Players and Teams:

In the 70s, the teams were closely matched with no team winning more than 2 titles during the decade. Only the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics were able to win two titles each. The Washington Bullets also made it to the finals four times but only won once. Some other teams that won a championship in the 70s include: Seattle Supersonics, Milwaukee Bucks Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers.

Arguably the greatest and most dominant player in the 1970s was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who held the all time scoring record of 38,387 points, until February 2023 where it was beaten by LeBron James. In the 1970s alone, Kareem averaged 28.2 points per game and is known as the creator of the skyhook which was unstoppable in his time. He won the 1971 championship with the Milwaukee Bucks before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers where he won 5 more championships in the 80s.

Cultural Impact:

As a result of the expansion and franchise movement in the NBA, more cities which had limited exposure to basketball were influenced by the presence of the NBA. This ultimately led to an impact on the local sports culture as it gave people in more areas a team to support. Furthermore, racial integration in the 70s helped to further break the racial barrier and break stereotypes about skills and athleticism with more prominent, superstar black players emerging in the league. Also, as the league continued to grow, including globally, this led to increased support from the fan base and so significant popular culture around basketball was created. Culture was also influenced by the fashion of the NBA and especially by Walt Frazier who was a fashion icon in the 70s. Other fashion highlights of this era include high socks, shorter shorts, v-neck collars and bold designs.