The 1969âÂÂ70 ABA season was the third season of the American Basketball Association. Prior to the start of the season, the Minnesota Pipers moved back to Pittsburgh, the Oakland Oaks moved to Washington, D.C., and became the Washington Caps and the Houston Mavericks moved to North Carolina and became the Carolina Cougars. For the regular-season, the schedule was increased from 78 to 84 games per team. The season ended with the Indiana Pacers capturing their first ABA Championship.
By April of 1970, rumblings of a merger were reported in the press, with one reported offer having the league pay $11 million in indemnities while agreeing to move the Washington franchise out of its location. The NBA Players Association was felt to be an obstacle for any plans of a merger, as they had voted to strike in the event of such a merger. As it turned out, the merger would not occur until many years later with only a fraction of the ABA's teams making it in the final merger.
Spencer Haywood, a rookie from the University of Detroit, led the ABA in scoring (30.0 ppg) and rebounding (19.5 rpg) for the Denver Rockets. Haywood was professional basketball's first "hardship case", leaving college after his sophomore season. The NBA prohibited him from declaring for its draft, and he signed with the Rockets instead, leading them to the Western Division championship.
Asterisk (*) denotes playoff team
Bold â ABA champions
On April 10, 1970, the Indiana Pacers would score a league record-high 177 points in a 177âÂÂ135 win over the Pittsburgh Pipers at home. As of 2025, it remains the highest-scoring effort the Pacers have ever had either in the ABA or the NBA (with their most recent highest-scoring game in the NBA occurring on March 27, 2025 with a 162âÂÂ109 blowout win over the Washington Wizards). On April 28, 1970, Spencer Haywood was named ABA MVP.