New Jersey Nets, professional basketball team and one of seven teams in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Nets play at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and wear jerseys of red, blue, and white. The team, which was once based in New York City, was named the Nets to rhyme with the names of two of New York’s other professional sports teams—football’s New York Jets and baseball’s New York Mets.

One of the 11 original teams of the American Basketball Association (ABA), the Nets won two championships in the nine-year history of that league. During this time star forward Julius Erving led the team.

The team was founded in 1967 as an ABA franchise called the New Jersey Americans. Team owner Arthur Brown originally wanted the team to play in New York City, but after failing to secure a city arena, the team spent the 1967-68 season playing in Teaneck, New Jersey. The next season Brown renamed the squad the Nets and moved it to Long Island, New York, and in 1969 he sold the Nets to businessman Roy Boe. The Nets qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 1969-70. Before the next season the team signed high-scoring forward Rick Barry, and in 1972 the Nets advanced to the ABA Finals, where they lost to the Indiana Pacers four games to two.

Before the 1972-73 season Barry left the Nets, and the team won only 30 games that year. In 1973, however, the club replaced Barry with an acrobatic forward named Julius Erving. Known as Dr. J, Erving boosted the team’s popularity and improved its play. The Nets recorded a 55-29 regular-season mark in 1973-74 and claimed the ABA title. Erving topped the league in scoring with 27.4 points per game and won the league’s most valuable player (MVP) award.

After an early playoff loss in 1975, the Nets returned in the 1975-76 season with a 55-29 win-loss record. Led by Erving, who again won the league’s MVP award, the Nets bested the Denver Nuggets in the ABA Finals to earn their second championship.

Before the 1976-77 season the ABA folded, and the Nets were one of four ABA teams that joined the NBA. Salary disputes with Erving forced the club to sell his contract to the Philadelphia 76ers, and without its star forward the team failed to post a winning record during its first five NBA seasons. After their first NBA season the team moved to New Jersey, and in 1978 Boe sold the team.