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The American Basketball Association draft was held from 1967 to 1975. Generally speaking, the ABA's drafts were considered a lot looser in terms of structure for teams to make their player choices when compared to the rivaling NBA. So much so, in fact, that in 1974, the ABA would not only host a draft for college-based players, but also a draft for NBA players to be taken by ABA teams as well.

First overall picks

Note: 1974 ABA College Draft, not 1974 ABA Draft of NBA Players

Drafts

1967 ABA draft

No known record of which player was taken in which round outside of Jimmy Walker as the #1 pick was kept throughout the ABA's inaugural draft history. The reason for this related to this draft being held in secret at the end of the league's three day long meetings held in Oakland, California on April 2. What is known, however, was that the Indiana Pacers won the ABA draft lottery and would selected the #1 pick in the process, with the second round being reversed in order. Likewise, the New Orleans Buccaneers would be the first team to complete a draft day trade with the Oakland Oaks, as well as select multi-athlete players in Bob Seagren and Ron Widby that year.

1968 ABA draft

No known record of which player was taken in which round outside of Elvin Hayes as the #1 pick was kept throughout the ABA's second ever draft. The reason why this would be the case was due to it being held in secret, with an evaluation draft being conducted on March 9 in Louisville, Kentucky, followed by two different drafts of similar nature occurring on April 27 & May 5 in Los Angeles and Minneapolis respectively.

1969 ABA draft

No known record of which player was taken in which round outside of Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) as the #1 pick under what was dubbed as "Operation Kingfish" at the time was kept throughout the ABA's third ever draft. The reason why that would be the case was because the ABA would host the first five rounds secretly on February 15 in Bloomington, Minnesota, with the following five rounds after that being completed on April 15 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Additional rounds would be implemented later on, but a total of 10 official rounds with every team was completed that draft year. Following the repeated failures of persuading talented star players like Lew Alcindor to choose the ABA over the rivaling NBA, George Mikan would effectively resign from his position as commissioner of the ABA.

1970 ABA draft

No known record of which player was taken in which round outside of Bob Lanier as the #1 pick was kept throughout the ABA's fourth ever draft. Despite that point, the ABA would hold this draft's first eight rounds at its earliest date yet on January 22 in Indianapolis, while the second half of the draft (which would go from rounds 9-17 this year) would be held on March 15 in New York. This draft would see the ABA become more successful in persuading young talents to join the ABA instead of the rivaling NBA.

1971 ABA draft

This draft would be the first ABA draft to have a known record of who got selected where in the ABA beyond just the fact that Jim McDaniels was the #1 pick this year, according to "The Basketball Draft Face Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts". Not only that, the ABA would host the most rounds ever by this point in time with a grand total of 20 rounds officially being set this year. The first three rounds would be completed on January 22-23 at Greensboro, North Carolina, while the rest of the rounds starting from the fourth round onward would be completed on March 15 in New York. The ABA would also host a "Special Circumstances" Draft later in the year on September 10 in Memphis, Tennessee as a response to the (at the time) recently implemented "NBA Hardship Draft" that the NBA was forced to utilize following the results of the Haywood v. National Basketball Association 1971 Supreme Court case, but only three players from that draft would be selected there: Duquesne University's Mickey Davis for the Denver Rockets, the University of California, Berkeley's Phil Chenier for the Carolina Cougars, and North Carolina State University's Ed Leftwich for the New York Nets.

1972 ABA draft

Note, this year does not include six rounds of a dispersal draft or an expansion draft.

1973 ABA draft

For this year's draft, they would hold a special circumstances draft, a senior draft, an undergraduate draft, and a supplementary draft.

1974 ABA draft

In addition to 10 rounds of the regular ABA draft of college players, there would also be an ABA draft of NBA players done during that same year.

1975 ABA draft

For the final draft year of the ABA, this draft would officially last for eight rounds, with the Denver Nuggets having a bonus choice taken at the end of the draft.

Further reading

• Bradley, Robert D. (2013). The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810890695.

References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20140716032528/http://databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?yr=1972&lg=A
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20140716135612/http://databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?yr=1973&lg=A
3. https://web.archive.org/web/20140714121456/http://databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?yr=1974&lg=A
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20140715222101/http://databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?yr=1975&lg=A

External links

• https://web.archive.org/web/20140630112516/http://databasebasketball.com/draft/draftlist.htm?lg=a

• American Basketball Association draft