Attorney Roy E. Brownell II Makes the Historical, Logical, and Moral Case for the NBA to Officially Count ABA Statistics

For over 20 years, I have insisted that ABA Numbers Should Also Count. I noted that — among other things — the list of Julius Erving’s 40 point games is incomplete without including his ABA statistics, Julius Erving still holds the Nets’ franchise single game scoring record, and Erving should be acknowledged by the NBA and its media partners as a member of the elite 30,000 point club.

In Setting the Record Straight: Why the NBA Needs to Officially Adopt ABA Statistics, 76 Ark. L. Rev. (2024), attorney Roy E. Brownell II articulates detailed, powerful, and multi-pronged historical, logical, and moral arguments regarding why the NBA’s record book should officially include ABA statistics. His 87 page article deserves to be read in full — and should be required reading for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver — but it is important to outline the framework of Brownell’s arguments so that the general public understands why this is such an important issue. Perhaps a groundswell of public opinion favoring the inclusion of ABA statistics in the NBA’s record book is what it will take to fix a wrong that has existed for nearly 50 years.