The Spirits of St. Louis: The Team That Outlived the ABA

In a league built on flash, flair, and fearless ambition, no team captured the chaotic charm of the ABA quite like the Spirits of St. Louis.

They weren’t around for long—just two seasons from 1974 to 1976—but their legacy is bigger than banners and box scores. In fact, the Spirits’ story is so wild, so rich with characters and business brilliance, that it continues to echo through basketball history nearly five decades later.

A Team of Characters and Chaos

The Spirits were the ultimate ABA underdog: a hastily assembled squad with no real arena deal, no existing fanbase, and zero expectations. And yet, what they lacked in stability, they made up for in style.

Led by a 22-year-old Marvin “Bad News” Barnes, the Spirits lit up courts across the league. Barnes was a walking headline—on one road trip, he famously refused to board a plane because it was scheduled to arrive before it departed (thanks to time zones). “I ain't gettin' on no time machine,” he said.

Alongside him was a rookie play-by-play broadcaster named Bob Costas, who found himself chronicling one of the wildest rides in sports while barely old enough to rent a car.

The Spirits upset the defending champion New York Nets in the 1975 playoffs, with young players like Maurice Lucas, Gus Gerard, and Ron Boone turning heads. But as with most ABA stories, greatness was fleeting.

The Greatest Deal in Sports History

When the ABA merged with the NBA in 1976, only four teams were invited: the Nets, Nuggets, Spurs, and Pacers.

The Spirits? They folded.

But the owners—Ozzie and Daniel Silna—weren’t about to walk away quietly. Instead, they negotiated a deal with the NBA that would become legendary: they agreed to dissolve the team in exchange for a percentage of NBA television revenue… forever.

For decades, the Silna brothers collected millions annually from the NBA, without ever fielding a team again. When the NBA finally bought out the deal in 2014, the Silnas had reportedly earned over $300 million—all from a team that hadn’t played since disco was in style.

Why It Still Matters

The Spirits of St. Louis embody everything the ABA was about: risk-taking, personality, creativity, and a little bit of madness.

At Lana Sports, that’s exactly the kind of energy we’re proud to represent with our Original ABA Basketball. It's not just a ball—it’s a tribute to players like Marvin Barnes, teams like the Spirits, and a league that dared to be different.

If you’re holding an ABA ball, you’re holding a piece of that legacy. One where the underdogs could win, the stories were larger than life, and where a team that technically no longer exists still found a way to win.