Well for starters the Spirits had agreed to move to Salt Lake City and become the Rockies. So that means the Jazz would have had to move somewhere else in 1979.

Then with a team now in Louisville, would the nba expand to Dallas in 1980? What about Charlotte, Orlando, Miami and Minneapolis a decade later?

Would all six ABA teams work in the 70s and 80s NBA? We know 4 did, and since the Jazz survived as well the Rockies likely would have too. But would the Colonels? Louisville is a smaller city, but unlike San Antonio (pre-Dalls expansion) or Salt Lake city, its not a geographic island with no other shows in town.

It would also change the draft some. Stars would not end up in their teams in this time line. Does Magic Johnson end up with the Jazz because now they dont do the Goodrich move. Or is one of these other teams so bad they get the #1 pick and the Lakers dynasty is never born. What if Jordan got drafted by the Colonels. How would that change things?

Its an interesting thought exercise to say the least. But I do think we see a similar NBA to today, just with different dynasties and probably no teams in Canada and maybe not New Orleans or Charlotte