Examining NBA Expansion on cardboard

Expansion is always a great thing for a sport. Since the NBA began getting cards regularly in 1969-70, 16 teams have joined the league, which is one more than half, as the NBA currently stands at 30 teams. Today I will break down how each team's addition was handled on cards.

1970-71: Buffalo Braves, Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers
With a three team expansion, this is the largest increase in new clubs since the formative years of the league, when clubs came and went on a much more fluid basis. The ABA had been making inroads -launched in 1967- and the NBA both realized there was more the sport could support and head off the ABA getting these cities before they could. The cards do not make anything special of the new teams, in fact, the majority of the cards in the set didn't even show the jerseys properly because it was unlicensed by the NBA.

Many of the cards in this oversized set are close ups, cropped so that the logo doesn't show on the uniform, or, like in the case of Em Bryant, the logo has been painted over. The Buffalo Braves would eventually become the Los Angeles Clippers.

1974-75: New Orleans Jazz. In '74 New Orleans would get their first team, which would stay in the city until only 1979, when it moved to Utah where it remains. It was the first time expansion was specifically commemorated on a card.

 Thinking about this card- which I got within my first two years collecting the NBA, and scanned years ago, is what prompted this post. I was actually scanning Pete Maravich's 1979-80 Topps card, which led to my thinking about this card, and I realized this is something I would be able to write about.

1976-77: Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, San Antonio Spurs
The ABA folded and was absorbed by the NBA after the 1975-76 season. Bitter rivals, the NBA conquered and swallowed whole the upstart league, bringing in four of the clubs. Since the teams were all well established already, and had been getting cards in the Topps sets since 1971-72, nothing was made of their joining the new league. The cards for the other ABA teams simply stopped showing up in the sets.

Erving would never actually play for the Nets in the NBA. His contract was sold to the 76ers.

These are technically the first NBA cards for each team- the lowest numbered card in the 1976-77 set.  The game action images are actually all from ABA games for these 4 teams in the entire set.

1980-81: Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks, much like the three teams from a decade earlier, just show up with new cards of players in airbrushed uniforms.

Because the Mavericks joined the league in time for Topps's worst set design ever, the cards appear super thin. All of the images from this set have been cropped properly in PhotoScape- none of the actual cards have been separated.

1988-89: Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat
The late 80s saw 4 teams added to the NBA, almost bringing it to it's current setup. By this time Topps was out of the NBA, Star had come and gone, and Fleer now had the exclusive license...for this country.

The Fleer set would have "drafted by" banners, but maintained the original team's colors. The first card to actually show the new teams in action are actually from a Spanish playing card game, but interestingly, they did not include any Miami Heat players.

1989-90: Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic
For the first time in NBA history, there are two major sets in a single year, and for the first time since Star, there are cards showing game images from the season the cards were issued in.

Fleer again went with a banner, but this time the borders are in the new team's color. Hoops, the first NBA set ever with two series, didn't include any cards of either team in series 1, but made up for it in a big way with actual action photos...mostly...in series 2.

1995-96: Toronto Raptors, Vancouver Grizzlies
The 1995-96 expansion teams have always carried a particular favor with me- I discovered the sport during the 1995-96 season, so while I didn't see them from the very beginning, I did get in on the ground floor. They also had the most cardboard coverage of any expansion teams, both due to the fact that there were significantly more sets produced, and it was the 1990s, the true golden age of cards, and everything was documented well.

 Collector's Choice, Finest, Flair, Metal and Ultra all featured "Drafted by" cards in series 1 and action photos in series 2. I've only chosen to show one example here.

 E-XL, SP, SP Championship, SPx and Topps Gallery all came out late enough in the season that they ONLY include action photos of the teams.

 Fleer, Hoops and Ultra had special subsets for the two new teams. Flair did as well, but the cards looked almost exactly the same as other teams- instead of black on the back, it's team colored, and they lack the pearlescent metallic aspect other teams had.

 Jam Session and Panini ONLY have "drafted by" cards

 Skybox only had a team logo card in series 1, no player cards. All the player cards, using the basic design concept of the set, appear in series 2.

 Stadium Club and Topps both had close-up headshots of the drafted players in series 1, and action photos in series 2.

 Topps also released a special set with the Inaugural Season logo in gold foil. This may have been exclusive to Wal-Mart.

 Note: I don't have any of the Raptors from SP Championship scanned yet.

Both teams also got something no other expansion teams before them did- a card from before they officially existed. 1994-95 Fleer gave a card, showing the logos, of each of the two Canadian teams, with a brief history of how they came to be on the back. I specifically got them out and pulled them up in the scanning order for this post.

2004-05: Charlotte Bobcats
The Bobcats' introduction in 2004 was met with almost no fanfare. This may be due to the fact that many people feel like it was correcting a wrong, and that the Bobcats were just a replacement for the Hornets, which had been moved to New Orleans in 2002. That's not wrong, but for the Bobcats it led to cards like we hadn't seen since 1980-81- they just showed up in sets, varying from photos with the old team but the new team colors, to action photos in late season releases, to staged photos.

That's not even all the sets, there are a couple I don't have a Bobcats card, or at least scanned, from.
By this point, Series 2s were a thing of the past, unfortunately. As you can see, at this point many of the sets were more about gimmicks than actually documenting the game- which played a role in why I walked away from the sport in 2006, although I now regret it. The Bobcats also got a team logo card issued the year before they joined the league, an insert in Bazooka.

No, your eyes don't deceive you, they are meant as window clings and are all printed in reverse on clear plasticy material.

And that's all of them. There has been renewed talk of possible expansion in the wake of the Coronavirus...each new team has to pay between $10 and 25 million to enter the league, and the NBA may see this as a way to offset the revenue losses from the shut down. (coupled with the success of the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL) I truly hope it happens. There is talk of a new team in Las Vegas and a new Seattle SuperSonics, which would make many long time NBA fans happy. There's also been a push to restart the Kentucky Colonels, a former ABA franchise, but that seemed to get less traction. I hope it does happen eventually, because there's little that's more exciting than a new franchise entering the sport.