The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey.[1] They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team is one of two NBA franchises in the New York metropolitan area, along with the New York Knicks. An original member of the American Basketball Association (ABA), the Nets were founded in 1967 and initially played in Teaneck, New Jersey as the New Jersey Americans. In its early years, the team led somewhat of a nomadic existence, moving to Long Island in 1968 and playing as the New York Nets before moving back to New Jersey in 1977. It won two ABA championships before becoming one of four ABA teams to be admitted into the NBA as part of the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. Since then the team has seen periods of losing and bad luck intermittent with brief periods of success, culminating in two consecutive NBA Finals appearances in the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons. The franchise has since fallen back to less successful ways, with four consecutive losing seasons since 2007