Despite a strong desire to finish his final year at college, and much angst in making the decision, Erving signed his first professional contract with the American Basketball Association鈥檚 Virginia Squires in 1967. He acknowledges he didn鈥檛 at the time know what a squire was and was told it was Virginia鈥檚 version of UMass鈥檚 Minutemen.
Part of his reason for taking the plunge after his junior year was because the ABA was aggressively snapping up young players and generally paying them more than the established NBA. But given serious rumors that the leagues would soon merge, it appeared the bidding wars might soon end and the attractive contract offers made to Dr. J and other players would evaporate. So he signed with the Squires for $500,000 to be paid over seven years. Amazingly the Squires made the offer even though coach Al Bianchi and general manager Red Kerr had never seen Erving play accept in a grainy film of what Dr. J considers his worst college game.
