American Basketball Association draft

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.

Notes No known record of which player was taken in which round outside of Jimmy Walker as the #1 pick by the Indiana Pacers was kept throughout the ABA's inaugural draft history.

[7] Likewise, the New Orleans Buccaneers would be the first team to complete a draft day trade in the ABA by making a deal with the Oakland Oaks, as well as select multiple multi-athlete players in Bob Seagren (an Olympiad pole vaulter) and Ron Widby (a football punter in the NFL) that year.

It was later revealed by the Chaparrals' general manager at the time (and later, one-time future head coach) Max Williams that the draft ordering the team did that year was due to the team's original co-owner, Roland Speth (who later became the manager of The Monkees band), mistaking Williams' draft listing that he did in alphabetical order (with last names going from A-Z) as a list for the best possible talents being taken at hand as early as they could have done so.

Following the conclusion of this draft period, the New Jersey Americans would return to an original plan of theirs with playing in New York by becoming the New York Nets for the rest of their ABA tenure (partially because the team owners didn't like the fans shortening the name to "Amerks" due to it sounding Communist to them and partially because the team wanted to continue the younger New York team tradition of having a short word ending with "ets" being the new franchise name similar to the Mets in the MLB and Jets of the then-AFL later turned NFL) following a failed permanent home move to New Jersey in relation to a forced disqualification for a playoff qualifying match at home against the Kentucky Colonels (though ironically, it'd have the team play in the same arena that initially disqualified them from playoff qualification last season on a more permanent basis (at least at first), but with new floor boards in place in order to avoid a repeat scenario like their last game of that inaugural season from occurring ever again),[5] while the Minnesota Muskies would move to Miami, Florida to become the Miami Floridians and the defending champion Pittsburgh Pipers would move to Minnesota to become the Minnesota Pipers (presumably in an attempt to have a home team nearby the ABA's headquarters).

Not only that, this year's draft events would also begin the ABA's plans to merge with the rivaling NBA in what would eventually become the NBA–ABA merger.

[14][6] On a more positive note, the time after this draft would also be notable for the Denver Rockets acquiring sophomore power forward Spencer Haywood, a Hall of Famer in his own right from the University of Detroit that would ultimately cause a greater influence upon the NBA draft system (in exchange for the Rockets forfeiting their own first round pick the following draft year) due to the newly created hardship exception made by interim commissioner and Houston Mavericks turned Carolina Cougars owner James Carson Gardner and the subsequent Spencer Haywood v. National Basketball Association case that would come up years later in relation to Haywood's unique situation that came from him being signed up by the ABA first.

No official known record of which player was taken in which round outside of Bob Lanier as the #1 territorial-based pick of the New York Nets was kept throughout the ABA's fourth ever draft.

However, it would also showcase the league's still ever-growing signs of instability from within after the draft ended with many teams moving around and/or changing names in order to become more regional with their fanbases by the Dallas Chaparrals renaming themselves to the Texas Chaparrals in an attempt for their franchise to be more regional for the entire state of Texas following the Houston Mavericks' previous move to North Carolina to become the Carolina Cougars,[22] the runner-up Los Angeles Stars moving to Utah for the rest of their tenure to become the Utah Stars,[12] the Miami Floridians being renamed to just "The Floridians" in a unique attempt to have the team represent all of Florida,[13] the New Orleans Buccaneers briefly being renamed to the Louisiana Buccaneers in order to represent all of Louisiana before newer ownership changed hands and led to them moving to Memphis, Tennessee in order to become the Memphis Pros,[23] the Pittsburgh Pipers briefly changed their team name to the Pittsburgh Pioneers before lawsuit threats by both Point Park College and a different "Name That Team" contestant named Angela Weaver via the winning essay entry done by Don Seymour supposedly using twice as much words allowed in that contest's 25 word limit forced them into creating the Pittsburgh Condors name that they'd use for the rest of their existence,[14][24][25] and the Washington Caps moving to the nearby state of Virginia to become the Virginia Squires partially due to safety concerns related to the area they played in also being involved with the 1968 race riots and partially due to the team hearing rumors of an NBA–ABA merger coming about,[6] which ultimately got delayed by six years due to the Oscar Robertson v. National Basketball Association antitrust lawsuit.

The ABA would later rule that three of the players that the Virginia Squires drafted in Tom Riker, Jim Chones, and Barry Parkhill were actually ineligible underclassmen due to the original conditions that the ABA had to uphold in order to allow the initially planned NBA–ABA merger to happen in the first place despite the Denver Rockets keeping their own first round selection (the second of three straight first round picks that they had acquired via trades) of Ralph Simpson at hand (though the Squires would later get Parkhill back onto their team eventually),[35] while the Indiana Pacers essentially pranked the rest of the league by selecting a nonexistent player named "Slick Pinkham" from DePauw University as the official last pick of the 1971 ABA draft; Slick Pinkham was a portmanteau of head coach (and former point guard) Bobby "Slick" Leonard and team owner Dick Tinkham, who actually did attend DePauw University and played basketball for them there (likely at point guard) back when he was a student.

Also following the draft were the initial plans of the NBA–ABA merger that would have seen every ABA team join the NBA except for the Virginia Squires (the reason for their exclusion related to them being too close of proximity to the Baltimore Bullets, now Washington Wizards, which would have forced them to either move yet again in order to join the NBA or fold operations altogether) starting by May 1971 before the Oscar Robertson v. National Basketball Association antitrust lawsuit ruined that merger plan entirely.

This allowed teams to select some special talented players like future Hall of Famers Bob McAdoo and Bill Walton, as well as players like Doug Collins and freshman David Brent being drafted earlier than the NBA had anticipated them being available, though most of those guys either returned to college or went to the NBA anyway in the case of Bob McAdoo.

In any case, following the conclusion of this draft year, both "The Floridians" and the Pittsburgh Condors would declare themselves as defunct operations going forward (thus leading to only the aforementioned San Diego Conquistadors replacing just one of those two teams going forward[57]), while the Memphis Pros decided to change their team name to the Memphis Tams (Tams being an acronym for the three states the franchise wanted to get on a regional basis in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi) entering the upcoming season.

[63] Any players that weren't selected after this draft concluded would be placed on waivers and enter free agency afterward.

However, the Indiana Pacers would later negotiate a deal with San Diego to only allow them to acquire the negating draft rights to Dwight Jones instead of two players on their end.

Outside of the Dallas Chaparrals moving to San Antonio in order to essentially become the modern-day San Antonio Spurs that currently exist in the NBA to this day following the end of the regular season months after the special circumstances draft ended, no other team movement changes occurred following the conclusions of the rest of these draft events, thus tying 1971 as the most stable draft year period for the ABA's teams due to no one outside of the Chaparrals franchise moving or changing team names once again.

Interestingly, the only two teams to decline participation in entering the supplemental draft for the ABA this year entirely were the Indiana Pacers and New York Nets.

[81] Following these draft days' conclusions, the Carolina Cougars would move to St. Louis, Missouri to become the uniquely named Spirits of St. Louis franchise,[17] the Denver Rockets would officially rebrand themselves into the Denver Nuggets (partially as a homage to the former Denver Nuggets NBA team that played in the 1949–50 NBA season, but mainly as the winning entry in their "Name That Team" contest) in order to make their personal transition into the NBA a lot easier on their end due to the NBA already having a team named the Rockets around via the Houston Rockets (formerly known as the San Diego Rockets) that existed around the same period of time as the Denver franchise back when Denver's franchise had the Rockets name for the purpose of advertising another business from previous ownership at the time,[4] and the Memphis Tams would officially rebrand themselves as the Memphis Sounds for what would later become their final season in Memphis.

By this point in time, the ABA was starting to truly feel the struggles of competing against the NBA without having a proper national TV contract to help generate more money for it.

In fact, one Claws player in George Carter would join his new ABA team in the Utah Stars only after the ABA dispersal draft involving the Claws ended, while another player named Skip Wise was skipped out on due to questions on his no-trade clause by other teams and a third player named Mel Daniels was passed up entirely due to his contract he had with the now-defunct franchise being picked up by other teams, which led to him skipping out on the ABA entirely that season for play in Italy instead.

For the San Diego franchise, their demise would come not just from a poor start to the season following their rebranding from the Conquistadors to the Sails, but also hearing that the franchise would be shut out of the upcoming NBA–ABA merger early on due to the insistence of then-Los Angeles Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke not wanting any competition for a share of his team's fan base with another team in the southern California region.

The third and final team to fold operations during the 1975 year was the Utah Stars, who had completed 16 games for an official 4–12 record before folding operations and essentially ending divisions altogether for the rest of the ABA's existence on December 2, 1975 due to the team's owner going broke by this time following a failed bid for the Governor of Colorado.

Instead, remembering that the Spirits of St. Louis franchise had discussed the idea of merging with the Utah Stars prior to the team folding, the ABA allowed the Spirits to acquire four of their best players in future Hall of Famer Moses Malone, future ABA All-Time Team member Ron Boone, Randy Denton, and Steve Green instead in hopes of helping their franchise out for the rest of the season, as well as giving former Stars team owner Bill Daniels a 10% minority stake interest in the Spirits of St. Louis franchise.

Louie Dampier was selected in the first round of the 1967 ABA Draft by the Kentucky Colonels . Dampier alongside Byron Beck would later be the only players in this draft to stay with the team that drafted them throughout all nine seasons of the ABA's existence.
Mel Daniels was selected in the first round of the 1967 ABA Draft by the Minnesota Muskies .
Jimmy Jones was selected in the first round of the 1967 ABA Draft by the New Orleans Buccaneers .
Bob Netolicky was essentially selected as the 22nd pick (the final pick of the second round) in the 1967 ABA Draft by the Indiana Pacers . Netolicky would later be one of six players from this draft to play in the ABA for all nine seasons of its existence.
Warren Armstrong (later going by Warren Jabali once entering the ABA) was selected in the third round of the 1968 ABA Draft by the Oakland Oaks .
Ron Boone was selected in one of the later rounds (presumably as high as the sixth or eighth round) of the 1968 ABA Draft by the Dallas Chaparrals .
Lew Alcindor (later going by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during his career) was selected as the first pick of the 1969 ABA Draft by the New York Nets .
Mack Calvin was selected during one of the later rounds (potentially as early as the sixth round) of the 1969 ABA Draft by the Los Angeles Stars .
Spencer Haywood was the price paid by the Denver Rockets in exchange for them forfeiting their first round pick in the 1970 ABA Draft.
Dan Issel was selected as the 4th pick in the first round of the 1970 ABA Draft by the Kentucky Colonels .
Charlie Scott was selected as the 8th pick in the first round of the 1970 ABA Draft by the Washington Caps (who later became the Virginia Squires after the end of this draft period).
Jim McDaniels (upfront) was the first pick of the 1971 ABA Draft by the Utah Stars via trading with the Texas Chaparrals .
Ralph Simpson was the fifth pick in the 1971 ABA Draft by the Denver Rockets .
Artis Gilmore was the ninth pick in the 1971 ABA Draft by the Kentucky Colonels .
Roger Brown (dunking the ball) was the 21st pick in the 1971 ABA Draft by the Texas Chaparrals (who later returned to Dallas after the draft) via trading with the Utah Stars .
Bob McAdoo was the first pick of the 1972 ABA Draft by the Virginia Squires via trading with the Pittsburgh Condors .
Julius Erving was the price paid by the Virginia Squires in exchange for them forfeiting what would have been the seventh pick in the 1972 ABA Draft.
Jimmy Jones was the price paid by the Utah Stars in exchange for them giving up their own first round pick (which would have been the new seventh pick) in the 1972 ABA Draft.
Brian Taylor was presumably the nineteenth pick in the 1972 ABA Draft by the New York Nets .
Paul Westphal was presumably the 20th pick in the 1972 ABA Draft by the Denver Rockets .
Bill Walton was presumably the 33rd pick in the 1972 ABA Draft by the Dallas Chaparrals .
Swen Nater was presumably the 58th pick in the seventh round of the 1972 ABA Draft by The Floridians franchise.
Warren Jabali was selected second in the first round of the 1972 ABA dispersal draft by going from " The Floridians " to the Denver Rockets .
Mack Calvin was selected sixth in the first round of the 1972 ABA dispersal draft by going from " The Floridians " to the Carolina Cougars .
Robert Parish was the eighth pick of the 1973 ABA special circumstances draft by the Utah Stars .
George Gervin was the tenth pick of the 1973 ABA special circumstances draft by the Virginia Squires .
Bobby Jones (left) was the eleventh pick in the 1973 ABA special circumstances draft by the Carolina Cougars .
Caldwell Jones was the 25th pick in the 1973 ABA senior draft by the Virginia Squires .
Krešimir Ćosić was the 40th pick in the 1973 ABA senior draft by the Carolina Cougars . He would later be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame despite never playing either in the ABA or rivaling NBA due to his time spent playing overseas in Yugoslavia .
George Karl was the 51st pick of the 1973 ABA senior draft by the Memphis Tams .
Bill Walton was the first pick of the 1973 ABA undergraduate draft (101st overall draft pick) by the San Diego Conquistadors .
David Thompson was the second pick in the 1973 ABA undergraduate draft (102nd overall draft pick) by the Memphis Tams .
Maurice Lucas was the tenth pick in the 1973 ABA undergraduate draft (110th overall draft pick) by the Carolina Cougars .
Billy Knight (upfront) was the sixth pick of the 1974 ABA Draft by the Indiana Pacers .
Moses Malone was the 22nd pick of the 1974 ABA Draft by the Utah Stars via trading with the Virginia Squires .
Alex English was the 66th pick of the 1974 ABA Draft by the Indiana Pacers .
Connie Hawkins (who previously played in the ABA as an MVP-caliber player for the Pittsburgh/Minnesota Pipers early on in the ABA) was selected as the 44th pick of the 1974 ABA draft of NBA players by the San Diego Conquistadors as an attempt to lure him back into the ABA again.
David Thompson was the second overall pick (first pick in the first round excluding their previous bonus round pick) in the 1975 ABA Draft (the final, proper ABA draft in league history) by the Denver Nuggets .
Monte Towe (left) was the 30th pick (29th pick excluding the previous bonus round selection) of the 1975 ABA Draft by the Denver Nuggets .
Robert Parish was the 48th pick (47th pick excluding the previous bonus round selection) of the 1975 ABA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs .
In lieu of holding a third ABA dispersal draft in 1975, Moses Malone was one of four players sent out from the defunct Utah Stars to the Spirits of St. Louis franchise in December 1975 in the hopes of helping that franchise survive until the end of what ultimately became the final season of the ABA's original existence.