American Basketball Association (2000–present)
American semi-professional men's basketball league founded in 1999
The American Basketball Association (ABA) is an American semi-professional men's basketball minor league that was founded in 1999.
ABA teams are based in the United States, with one traveling team from Japan. The league previously had international teams based in Canada, China and Mexico. League management maintains low requirements for franchise ownership, and hundreds of ABA teams have either folded or defected to rival leagues.
The league licenses its name and use of ABA trademarks from the National Basketball Association, which absorbed the American Basketball Association (1967–1976) during the ABA–NBA merger. The Women's American Basketball Association has operated as a sister league to the ABA since 2017.
History
Launch and suspension, 1999–2002
The league was originally co-founded by Dick Tinkham and Joe Newman in 1999 as ABA 2000. Tinkham had previously co-founded the Indiana Pacers in the original American Basketball Association, and Newman had been an advertising executive for the Pacers. The National Basketball Association (NBA), owner of the ABA trademark after absorbing many of the original league's teams, sued Tinkham and Newman in December 1999. The lawsuit was unsuccessful since the NBA had failed to actively use the ABA trademark, and the new league entered an agreement with the NBA to license the name for $50,000.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “American Basketball Association (2000–present)” as american semi-professional men's basketball league founded in 1999. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as american semi-professional men's basketball league founded in 1999. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q463481. Authority coordinates are 39.769, -86.158. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1999, 1967, 1976 and 2017.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “American Basketball Association (2000–present)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow American Basketball Association (2000–present) primary sources, American Basketball Association (2000–present) archive and American research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “American Basketball Association (2000–present)”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “American Basketball Association (2000–present)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.