NBA–ABA All-Star Game

After a costly four-year battle between the NBA and ABA, the two leagues agreed on May 7, 1971, to pursue Congressional approval to allow the merger of the two rivals.

[4] National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) president Oscar Robertson said that the all-star game would show that the two leagues could play against each other without an "illegal merger".

[7] In April 1970, the NBPA had filed the lawsuit Robertson v. National Basketball Ass'n to prevent the leagues from merging due to antitrust arguments.

[10] The NBA's Walt Frazier scored a game-high 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting and was named the game's most valuable player (MVP).

[13][14] Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was originally scheduled to play in the game, even though he was getting married earlier in the day, but changed his mind after the wedding.

[20] Originally announced in April,[21] the game was sponsored by Black Expo, with proceeds going to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for the Martin King Jr. benefit fund.

[24] John Havlicek and Oscar Robertson were the only two players that appeared in both matches for NBA squad, while for ABA team They were Rick Barry, Donnie Freeman, Willie Wise, Roger Brown and Mel Daniels.

Date: May 25, 1972 Arena: Nassau Coliseum Place: Uniondale Long Island, New York Attendance: 14,086 Final: NBA – ABA 106–104 MVP: Bob Lanier, Detroit Pistons

The all-star game was cancelled when the NBA owners won a binding arbitration blocking their players from taking part.

Larry Fleisher, who was the NBPA's general counsel, believed that television considerations led to the NBA's block, with CBS being unhappy that the game was to be on ABC.