1975–76 San Antonio Spurs season

John Schaefer Red McCombs (lost to Nets 3–4) The 1975–76 San Antonio Spurs season was the third season for the franchise while in San Antonio, their ninth overall season when including the seasons they played as the Dallas Chaparrals in Dallas and the one season they went as the Texas Chaparrals representing the entire state of Texas as a regional franchise (specifically playing in both Lubbock and Fort Worth alongside Dallas), and their final season they played as a franchise while out in the ABA. Despite being one of three teams to lose to the short-lived San Diego Sails rebranded franchise alongside the Utah Stars and Virginia Squires (both of whom would later fold operations themselves during this season), the Spurs would make it into the 1976 ABA Playoffs as the third-best team in the entire league behind only the New York Nets and Denver Nuggets, though the Spurs would lose 4–3 to the eventual champion New York Nets (led by the future-named ABA All-Time MVP Julius Erving) in the ABA Semifinals. Despite never winning a playoff series out in San Antonio as the Spurs and only winning one total playoff series in their entire history while in the ABA (that being during their inaugural season against the Houston Mavericks as the Dallas Chaparrals), the Spurs would be admitted to the National Basketball Association (NBA) along with what were considered the other three strongest teams in the ABA in the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers, and the most recent (and final) ABA champion New York Nets (now Brooklyn Nets) following the conclusion of the ABA-NBA merger talks in June 1976 due to the Spurs quickly being the highest-growing attending team in the ABA despite only having three seasons spent in San Antonio and having the second-smallest venue of the ABA teams that survived the regular season ahead of only the Virginia Squires' multiple smaller venues, as well as the smallest venue of every ABA team around once the merger occurred. The team's fortunes would only grow for the better in later seasons once they spent more time within the NBA, to the point of having the best success of all previous ABA teams post-merger with five NBA Finals championships to their name (having more championships going forward in the NBA than even the Indiana Pacers during their time in the ABA).