6 Long-lost franchises the NBA needs to breathe life back into
By Cal Durrett
4) Virginia Squires
Look, I will be the first to admit that I am biased toward wanting the Virginia Squires to make a comeback. As a Virginia native and one of the many in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) areas that are forever ambivalent to the Washington Wizards, it would be nice to have a team in-state.
The Squires were an ABA team that once featured stars like Rick Barry, George Gervin, and Julius "Dr. J" Erving but failed to make the leap to the NBA during the 1976 merger. That's a shame because the Wizards haven't done a particularly good job of tapping into a surprisingly large potential fan base. Virginia alone has more than 8.5 million people, with 1.8 million packed into Norfolk, and Virginia Beach.
To their credit, the Wizards are planning to move to Virginia Beach but keep Washington in their name. That would probably make the Squires or any other Virginia team unviable, which is a shame, though it could give this next team a shot at making a comeback.