1977-78

In the face of declining attendance, Braves owner John Y. Brown found a new city for the Braves franchise at the 1977 NBA owners meeting. The Boston Celtics were owned by Irv Levin, a California businessman who was unhappy in Boston. Levin wanted to own a club that played closer to his home state. NBA attorney David Stern (who later became the league's commissioner) proposed a novel solution: the Braves would move to San Diego, and Brown and Levin would swap franchises. While all this was going on in the front office, in 1977-78 the Buffalo Braves were floundering on the basketball court under new coach Cotton Fitzsimmons. Buffalo traded Adrian Dantley to the Indiana Pacers for Billy Knight and George Johnson to the New Jersey Nets for Nate "Tiny" Archibald, but Archibald missed the season after tearing his Achilles tendon during training camp. The club reached the end of November with a surprising 10-10 record, but it was all downhill from there. The Braves were 3-10 in December, 3-9 in January, and 3-10 in February. Buffalo then hit bottom, losing 13 of 14 to close out the campaign, arriving at a final mark of 27-55. Only the New Jersey Nets won fewer games that year. In June 1978, NBA owners voted 21-1 to allow the Buffalo Braves to move to San Diego and to let Levin and Brown swap franchises. The deal included a complicated seven-player trade in which the Celtics acquired Archibald, Knight, and Marvin Barnes. Most importantly, Boston retained the draft rights to Larry Bird. San Diego received Freeman Williams, back-up center Kevin Kunnert, and power forwards Kermit Washington and Sidney Wicks.