American professional basketball team established in 1967 that is based in San Antonio, Texas. The Spurs won five National Basketball Association (NBA) championships (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014) during one of the most dominant stretches in NBA history.
The team started out as the Dallas Chaparrals in the American Basketball Association (ABA). The Chaparrals were moderately successful, but the team was sold to a group of San Antonio businessmen in 1973, relocated, and renamed the Spurs. George (“the Iceman”) Gervin—a future Hall of Famer who joined the franchise midway through the 1973–74 season—was the star of the early San Antonio teams, a high-scoring shooting guard who would help establish the Spurs as a consistent contender throughout the 1970s and 1980s.