Because eligibility rules of the National Basketball Association at the time required a span of four years after high school graduation for a player to be picked by any team, a legal battle ensued, with the federal court ruling in favor of Haywood.
This led to a court case between the NBA against the Sonics and Haywood.
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This new rule came as a result of Spencer Haywood winning the court case against the NBA which allowed him to play in the NBA before his college class graduated.
In 1970, despite the NBA's eligibility rules, Haywood joined the Seattle SuperSonics, and with SuperSonics owner Sam Schulman launched an anti-trust suit against the league (Haywood v. National Basketball Association).
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