by Tim Gordon
Episode 1 Recap: How the ABA Revolutionized Basketball
Before the billion dollar arenas.
Before the sneaker empires.
Before the three point shot stretched defenses to the horizon.
Pro basketball was neat, narrow, predictable.
Then the American Basketball Association arrived like a bassline you could feel in your ribs.
Episode 1 of Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association plays like the opening track of a funk record. Loud. Defiant. Impossible to ignore. The hour isn’t just history. It’s ignition. This is the birth of the ABA, a rival league that didn’t politely challenge the NBA. It kicked the door open and rolled a red, white, and blue basketball straight into the spotlight.
Executive Producers Shape the Story
Guiding the series are executive producers George Karl, Julius Erving, and Common.
It’s a trio perfectly aligned with the spirit of the league. A coach who understands basketball strategy, a superstar who turned hang time into legend, and an artist rooted in culture and conscience. Together, they frame the ABA not simply as a sports experiment, but as a movement powered by competition, rebellion, and rhythm.
George Mikan and the Birth of the ABA
At the center stands George Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers icon turned commissioner.
While the NBA leaned on tradition, Mikan sold invention. For just $5,000, owners could buy a franchise and join what felt less like a league and more like a startup with hardwood floors. Inspired by the AFL’s success in football, the ABA promised faster games, flashier play, and entertainment that felt closer to the streets than the boardroom.
Rock concert crowds. Run and gun offense. Style over stiffness.
The red, white, and blue ball became the symbol of that philosophy. Basketball, but louder.
Rick Barry’s Defection Sparks the First War
The league’s first shockwave comes when Rick Barry jumps from the NBA to the ABA.
Already a star, Barry wasn’t chasing money. He was chasing joy. He believed the NBA had drained the fun from the game. His controversial move triggers lawsuits and league drama, forcing him to sit out a season before finally joining the Oakland Oaks.
If the NBA was corporate jazz, the ABA was street funk.
Barry’s leap proves the new league is real.
Connie Hawkins and the ABA’s First Superstar
Then comes redemption.
Connie Hawkins, “The Hawk,” had been barred from the NBA because of a point shaving scandal he never truly escaped. The ABA saw opportunity where others saw risk.
Hawkins becomes the league’s first true superstar, leading the Pittsburgh Pipers to the inaugural championship and winning MVP. His high flying game and playground flair feel like a declaration.
The ABA wasn’t just competing.
It was giving talent a second chance.
Integration Changes the Game
Episode 1 also tackles one of the ABA’s most important legacies.
While the NBA quietly enforced racial quotas, the ABA opened the doors wide. More than half the league’s players were Black, and the game immediately transformed. Faster. More expressive. More creative.
The league didn’t just look different.
It played different.
Players like Warren Jabali embodied that edge. Tough. Political. Fearless. When Barry went down with injury, Jabali carried Oakland to a championship as a rookie. The episode embraces that rawness rather than smoothing it out.
The ABA wasn’t tidy.
It was alive.
Missed Opportunities and Bold Risks
Not every gamble worked.
Mikan famously lowballed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor), losing a generational star to the NBA. It’s a devastating “what if” moment that could have changed league history.
So the ABA pivots again.
Draft underclassmen. Break convention. Challenge the labor system.
That bold strategy leads to Spencer Haywood, a teenage phenom whose signing would spark legal battles and reshape professional basketball forever.
His arrival closes the episode like a lit fuse.
Change isn’t coming.
It’s already here.
How the ABA Shaped Modern Basketball
By the end of Episode 1, the message is clear.
The ABA didn’t try to copy the NBA.
It reinvented the sport.
The three point shot.
The dunk contest.
The swagger.
The style.
What once looked like gimmicks became the DNA of modern basketball.
The NBA didn’t just merge with the ABA.
It absorbed its soul.
Verdict
“Change Is Coming” is a vibrant, deeply human opening chapter that treats the ABA not as a footnote, but as a revolution. Fast paced, culturally rich, and packed with history, Episode 1 reminds us that sometimes the outsiders don’t follow the game.
They invent it.
