Not counting his five-year stint in the ABA, the Philadelphia 76ers were the only NBA team Julius Erving played for. But if things had gone differently, Dr. J could have played for another franchise while refusing to join the Milwaukee Bucks back then.
Before the ABA merged with the NBA, Erving had a pretty dominant time playing for the former. Much like Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Hall of Fame-worthy career with the Bucks, Julius Erving became the best player in that league by averaging 28.7 points, 12.1 rebounds, and 4.8 assists.
By the time he retired from the NBA, Erving’s numbers dipped to 22. 0 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game during his 10-year run playing for the Philadelphia 76ers. Along the way, he became a champion in 1983, won four MVP awards, and was named to 16 All-Star Games.
While the Greek Freak might need some catching up to do when it comes to the accolades, there’s no denying Antetokounmpo is a lock for the Hall of Fame when the time comes. The thing is, the Bucks could have had his career, and that of Erving had the latter chosen to play in Milwaukee.
Julius Erving Gets Real On Why He Didn’t Want To Play for the Milwaukee Bucks
Before he joined the Sixers, there was a chance Erving could have played in Milwaukee or for the Atlanta Hawks. But according to Julius Erving, when he appeared on The Big Podcast With Shaq and presented by Playmaker, he would have preferred the latter than wearing a Bucks uniform.
“Well, I think there’s some evidence of it. We played two games and averaged 135 points in the two games, and they were both against Houston…I was really trying to play in Atlanta. Atlanta was the place for the black man to be in that era…It was a leader in terms of civil rights, and civil rights activity, and they gave me a $250,000 car, which was a Jaguar, and they gave me a condominium, and they said, we want you. And I said, y’all damn sure do. This is 1971, and I had a contract with Virginia [Squires], and I was being paid 125,000. This was my first contract. My Agent was like, we are going to leave here. We’re going to Atlanta.. I showed up at camp with Atlanta, got all the way through training camp. They also had Wal Bellamy, Lou Hudson, two Hall of Famers, and Pete Marvavich…We were loaded,” Erving said.
As it stands, Erving preferred Atlanta for the reasons he said above. But if he chose Milwaukee, that would have placed him as the next Bucks star after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. In any case, his admission can be categorized as a wonderful what-if scenario for the Milwaukee Bucks.
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