The Victors

John Y Brown had owned the Kentucky Colonels in the ABA and they were probably as successful as the four a franchises that were admitted to the NBA. But Brown took a buyout to fold the Colonels and bought controlling interest in the Braves, which he then traded for ownership of the Celtics.

I don't think the Braves were bankrupt but they had struggled at the gate most of their existence until they did get reasonably good in 1974.

Supposedly they also had a particularly bad lease at the old Aud (War Memorial Auditorium) which put them behind the Sabres and I believe Canisius, St.Bonaventure and Niagara for booking dates.

When Sterling bought the franchise from Brown, I think his plan was to flip it to San Diego.

McAdoo was traded or signed with the Knicks, as you probably recall he developed some off court drug problems which disrupted his career. This was not really uncommon in the NBA from about 1975-85. A lot of very prominent players had their careers derailed by drugs in varying degrees.