CBA absorption and continued instability, 2008–2013
At the start of the 2008–09 season, over 200 teams had folded since the league's inception.[33]
The 2008–09 season saw the Southeast Texas Mustangs franchise join the league after leaving the struggling Continental Basketball Association. The ABA attempted interleague play with the four remaining CBA teams, but their league folded mid-season.[34]
NBA scouts stopped attending the league's games in January 2009, citing the amount of cancelled and forfeited contests.[35]
Several teams folded during the 2009–10 season, including the entire Pacific Northwest Division. The San Francisco Rumble forfeited their playoff game against the Southeast Texas Mavericks, as they could not afford to travel for the contest.[36]
Gilas Pilipinas, the Philippine national basketball team, competed in a series of exhibitions against ABA teams including the Clayton Showtime, Los Angeles Slam, Riverside Rainmakers, San Diego Surf and the West Coast All-Stars.[37] This April 2010 series was referred to as the ABA Friendship Games.
Dick Packer was named league President and COO in April 2010.[38]
After winning their second consecutive championship in 2010–11, the Southeast Texas Mavericks publicly opined that the ABA did not have adequate competition, and they left with intentions of joining the NBA Development League.[39] However, their application to join the NBA Development League was denied, and the franchise sat out the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons. Consecutive titles were won by the Jacksonville Giants in their absence, with championship wins over the previously undefeated South Carolina Warriors in 2011–12 and North Dallas Vandals in 2012–13.[40] The team returned to the ABA for 2013–14 as the Shreveport-Bossier Mavericks, going undefeated and winning the league title in a perfect season.[41]
