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Feb 10, 2026

Feb 10, 2026

Feb 10, 2026

Moses and the Doctor

Moses and the Doctor

Moses and the Doctor

Two Men, One Championship, and the Birth of Modern Basketball

Two Men, One Championship, and the Birth of Modern Basketball

In the early 1970s, playground courts across the United States were jammed with hoops buffs experimenting with showy moves and aerial shots that were changing the look and feel of a sport once stubbornly earthbound. Out of this scene emerged a pair of incomparable yet dissimilar streetball sensations, both of whom would make their name in the American Basketball Association, an upstart professional league characterized as much by flamboyance as invention. Julius Erving, better known as Dr. J, became a mythic figure whose airborne acrobatics inspired an army of high-flying acolytes. Moses Malone, a down-and-dirty banger, scrambled basketball apprenticeships forever by skipping directly from high school to the pros.


Into the 1980s, Erving and Malone switched leagues, won MVPs, shattered records, and led their respective clubs into the playoffs' championship round. But one prize eluded them: an NBA title. After suffering perennial defeat at the hands of Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers and Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics, the two eventually joined forces on the Philadelphia 76ers, blending their contrasting talents into a seamless whole. Together, Erving and Malone set out to accomplish what no other NBA team fronted by ex-ABA superstars had managed.

An enthralling social history as well as an uplifting underdog story, Moses and the Doctor intimately chronicles the hopes and heartbreaks of two basketball legends who revolutionized what was possible on the ground and in the air, and fueled one of the most thrilling and momentous championship seasons ever.

In the early 1970s, playground courts across the United States were jammed with hoops buffs experimenting with showy moves and aerial shots that were changing the look and feel of a sport once stubbornly earthbound. Out of this scene emerged a pair of incomparable yet dissimilar streetball sensations, both of whom would make their name in the American Basketball Association, an upstart professional league characterized as much by flamboyance as invention. Julius Erving, better known as Dr. J, became a mythic figure whose airborne acrobatics inspired an army of high-flying acolytes. Moses Malone, a down-and-dirty banger, scrambled basketball apprenticeships forever by skipping directly from high school to the pros.


Into the 1980s, Erving and Malone switched leagues, won MVPs, shattered records, and led their respective clubs into the playoffs' championship round. But one prize eluded them: an NBA title. After suffering perennial defeat at the hands of Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers and Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics, the two eventually joined forces on the Philadelphia 76ers, blending their contrasting talents into a seamless whole. Together, Erving and Malone set out to accomplish what no other NBA team fronted by ex-ABA superstars had managed.

An enthralling social history as well as an uplifting underdog story, Moses and the Doctor intimately chronicles the hopes and heartbreaks of two basketball legends who revolutionized what was possible on the ground and in the air, and fueled one of the most thrilling and momentous championship seasons ever.

In the early 1970s, playground courts across the United States were jammed with hoops buffs experimenting with showy moves and aerial shots that were changing the look and feel of a sport once stubbornly earthbound. Out of this scene emerged a pair of incomparable yet dissimilar streetball sensations, both of whom would make their name in the American Basketball Association, an upstart professional league characterized as much by flamboyance as invention. Julius Erving, better known as Dr. J, became a mythic figure whose airborne acrobatics inspired an army of high-flying acolytes. Moses Malone, a down-and-dirty banger, scrambled basketball apprenticeships forever by skipping directly from high school to the pros.


Into the 1980s, Erving and Malone switched leagues, won MVPs, shattered records, and led their respective clubs into the playoffs' championship round. But one prize eluded them: an NBA title. After suffering perennial defeat at the hands of Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers and Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics, the two eventually joined forces on the Philadelphia 76ers, blending their contrasting talents into a seamless whole. Together, Erving and Malone set out to accomplish what no other NBA team fronted by ex-ABA superstars had managed.

An enthralling social history as well as an uplifting underdog story, Moses and the Doctor intimately chronicles the hopes and heartbreaks of two basketball legends who revolutionized what was possible on the ground and in the air, and fueled one of the most thrilling and momentous championship seasons ever.

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Publisher Info

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Amazon

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Bookshop.org

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Barnes & Noble

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Audible

PRAISE FOR

PRAISE FOR

PRAISE FOR

Moses and the Doctor

Moses and the Doctor

Moses and the Doctor

"Moses and the Doctor. One was relentlessly workmanlike. The other an unforgettable stylist who defined the ABA and helped rejuvenate the NBA. On these pages, Luke Epplin delivers a thoroughly researched and artfully rendered appreciation of both players and their place in the history of basketball.”

—Bob Costas


“The best sports books don’t merely inform. They transport you back in time, to a place that, powered by glorious nostalgia, makes the reader feel young and passionate yet again. Such is the magic of Moses and the Doctor, a read that places a headband around the noggin and has one soaring toward the rim in a smoke-filled arena. This is a glorious book.” 

—Jeff Pearlman, New York Times bestselling author of Showtime


"Luke Epplin writing about Dr. J and Moses makes for a perfect match, and the result is a book that's as winning and entertaining as its subject. Moses and the Doctor is a smart social history and a rollicking good read."

—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of King: A Life


"The legacy of the ABA still reverberates, and nobody embodied the grace and grit of that renegade league better than Julius Erving and Moses Malone, the Hall of Fame duo who led the Philadelphia 76ers to their last championship. Luke Epplin explores the complicated, compelling characters of the only team to interrupt the reign of the Lakers and Celtics in the 1980s. Thanks to Epplin, two legends with enduring impact finally get the nuanced, richly detailed biography they deserve."
—Tyler Kepner, senior writer for The Athletic and author of the New York Times bestseller K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches


“Today’s NBA fan might not realize it, but they’re watching Dr. J and Moses Malone every time they turn on a game. Luke Epplin’s Moses and the Doctor brings both of them—as players, as people, as icons—vividly to life: He makes their stories as present, as urgent, as they have ever been.” 

—Will Leitch, author of Lloyd McNeil's Last Ride and How Lucky


"I devoured every page of this remarkable book. Hoops heads will feel as if they are flying to the hoop alongside Dr. J and grinding it out down low with Moses. In a TikTok age, where fans think they know everything about their heroes, Epplin delivers untold stories with the same flair and grit exhibited by his two main characters."

—Mirin Fader, New York Times bestselling author of Giannis, Dream, and the forthcoming Bird