An interesting article from SLC Dunk suggests that the Jazz should petition the NBA to combine Jazz franchise history with the franchise history of the ABA’s Utah Stars, the first professional basketball team in Utah’s history. Thoughts?

[https://www.slcdunk.com/2024/4/3/24119866/the-utah-jazz-should-make-the-former-aba-team-the-utah-stars-a-part-of-their-history-nba-zelmo-beaty](https://www.slcdunk.com/2024/4/3/24119866/the-utah-jazz-should-make-the-former-aba-team-the-utah-stars-a-part-of-their-history-nba-zelmo-beaty)

I found this article to be a fascinating read about a piece of Jazz history that doesn’t get talked about quite as much: the Utah Stars. For those who don’t know, the Stars were an ABA team that was left out of the NBA-ABA merger in 1976. The ABA teams that survived the merger, the Spurs, Pacers, Nets, and Nuggets, have all maintained their franchise history and records, although their championships are not recognized as official NBA championships.

The Stars are a bit of a different story–while they lack the organizational continuity of the four teams listed above, the Jazz are something of a “spiritual successor” to the Stars. Without the Stars and the success that they had, winning the 1971 ABA championship, it’s highly unlikely that the New Orleans Jazz would have even considered Utah a viable basketball market, let alone actually moved there. It’s not too crazy to say that the Jazz as we know them today owe their existence in large part to the Utah Stars.

Now, let’s just get something out of the way: it is highly, highly unlikely that the NBA would ever actually merge the history of these two franchises together. They didn’t then, and they probably won’t now. These two teams may have played in the same place, but, as stated above, there was no organizational continuity.

On the other hand, here’s a potential wrinkle: what about the (seemingly) inevitable return of the Seattle Supersonics? Their official history currently lies with the Thunder due to the organizational continuity, but I would bet that when they come back as an expansion franchise, they’ll likely regain their franchise history in spite of the fact that they’re a completely different organization. Gary Payton will probably have his number retired by them in spite of the fact that he never actually played for the organization–just the one with the same name. So what if, when the Jazz moved to Utah, they were renamed the Stars? Would we have gotten the same treatment? Maybe. Should we discount the history of the professional basketball team that played here just because the owners were too lazy to change the name when they moved to Utah?

With all semantics aside, I think that the bigger question is this: how does the history of the Stars shape our view of the Jazz and professional basketball in Utah? There’s a narrative that the Jazz will never win a championship. We didn’t tank hard enough for Wemby. We’ll never be a major free-agent destination. Why would 20-something year-olds in the prime of their lives want to live in SLC when they could go to Miami or LA? That’s all true. But guess what? Utah does have a professional basketball title in its history. That has happened before. Times may have been different, but I really do believe that it will happen again.

This is already a long post, but I’ll just wrap it up by saying that I think we should at least keep the Stars in mind when we think about the history and pedigree of the team that we love. I wouldn’t hate to see a Stars-themed City Edition jersey one of these years (which I would love to see in a game against the 76ers). When we think about the greats, we’ll all think about Karl Malone, John Stockton, Mark Eaton, AK-47, and many others. Maybe we should also think about Zelmo Beaty.

(Fun fact: Moses Malone was drafted by the Utah Stars and played his rookie season here before the team was dissolved in the 1976 merger. One of the more interesting what-ifs of Utah basketball history.)

by bobcrackchuc