Listen to the full interview via the podcast.

Until the American Basketall Association ceased to exist, the red, white and blue balls, three pointers and flashier style of play provided an alternative to the NBA during the late 60s and early 70s.

However in 1976, the ABA merged with the NBA and most of its franchises switched to the latter organization.

But a few loose ends were not tied up properly as just four of the six surviving ABA teams were invited into the NBA.

Along with Kentucky Colonels, The Spirits Of St Louis who were not invited and are owned by the Silna brothers, Ozzie and Daniel, agreed to fold but at a price.

The other remaining ABA team owners agreed to pay St Louis a 1/7 share of their television revenue in perpetuity.

As NBA TV revenue became more lucrative over the past 38 years, Ozzie and Daniel Silna have received over $250 million from the league despite the fact that a Spirit of St Louis team does not actually exist.

Tonight we spoke to The New York Times' Richard Sandomir about the strange residue from the 1976 merger and how the NBA are trying to put an end to the deal with the Silnas.

"For the last  six to nine months, there has been a concerted effort to create a way to get rid of the Silnas if they could do it. The deal will be that they will pay the Silnas another half a billion dollars and create a partnership with the four teams that made it into the NBA. They will collect another bunch of revenue that was disputed in a law suit that the Silnas filed in 2012 asking for more money from different sources of TV that didn't exist in 1976."

That means the Silnas could receive up to $900 million in total since the merger.