1972 ABA draft

The 1972 ABA draft was the sixth draft done by the American Basketball Association (ABA), a rivaling professional basketball league to the National Basketball Association (NBA) that they would eventually merge as a part of the NBA only a few years later despite official merger talks ultimately being dead during the later, more competitive years of the ABA's history. This year would see an odd thing happen with the first five rounds of this year's draft not be recorded properly as of 2025 in terms of round ordering (outside of arguably the first round due to four teams losing their first round picks in situations relating to the previous draft year, if not the previous season) from March 2, 1972 (weeks before the 1972 NCAA University Division basketball tournament was properly completed^[1]) via standings from February 20 (though with the Pittsburgh Condors and Memphis Pros alternating between leading round orders this year since they both tied their official records that season at the time^[2]), while the rest of the rounds of this draft would be recorded properly in terms of draft ordering on April 12 all at the ABA's headquarters in New York. This draft also was the first draft in the ABA to allow their teams to draft one college underclassman to the first five rounds of the draft after seeing major success with underclassmen like Spencer Haywood, Ralph Simpson, George McGinnis, and Julius Erving going from undrafted players to successful, All-Star quality players in the ABA. This new policy created by the ABA drew strong criticisms from both the NCAA and numerous college coaches when it first happened, but it would eventually help pave the way for numerous college underclassmen to take their chances with later ABA and NBA drafts the more years passed by following this draft period by the ABA.^[1] However, the ABA wouldn't see as much success from this year's draft when compared to drafts from their previous years, with most of these college underclassmen opting to return to college for at least one more year instead and a number of Hall of Fame players, including that of their #1 pick in junior Bob McAdoo, going to the NBA instead despite him not being drafted at #1 that year there. This draft period would also be the last draft that the Memphis Pros would participate in under that name since they would rebrand themselves to the Memphis Tams after this main draft period by June 1972,^[3] as well as be the last event altogether for "The Floridians" and the Pittsburgh Condors franchises, as they would both fold operations months after this draft concluded on July 13, 1972,^[4] with a new team called the San Diego Conquistadors being created a month later on August 10 that same year.^[5]

This year's #1 pick would mark the second year in a row where the ABA would not only have a different #1 pick from the NBA altogether, but also had a #1 pick that was owned by one team get itself traded to another team before the upcoming draft year began. While the NBA's draft had one of the biggest busts in NBA history via LaRue Martin from Loyola University Chicago going to the Portland Trail Blazers (which had the ABA see Martin being drafted fifth (presumably speaking) by the Dallas Chaparrals by comparison), the ABA's draft had one of the members of both the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors and later NBA 75th Anniversary Team in junior Bob McAdoo from the University of North Carolina as the #1 pick by the Virginia Squires by a trade with the Pittsburgh Condors (though he was selected second overall in the NBA by the Buffalo Braves). However, much like the previous #1 pick for the ABA draft, Jim McDaniels, McAdoo would not play for the ABA team that drafted him at all (though like most #1 picks done by the ABA, he ended up opting to play for the NBA instead). McAdoo would prove his success almost immediately once he went professional by winning the NBA's Rookie of the Year Award, be named a five-time All-Star there, be named a member of the All-NBA Second Team in 1974 and All-NBA First Team in 1975 (including the NBA's MVP award for the latter year), be named a three-time scoring champion for the NBA from 1974 until 1976, and later be named a two-time NBA Finals champion while with the Showtime Lakers before he later went to Italy for the rest of his career from 1986 until retiring in 1992 with two Italian and EuroLeague championships (the second one including the EuroLeague Finals Top Scorer and EuroLeague Final Four MVP honors) won with Tracer Milano in the process. His honors not just with the NBA, but also Italy would help him earn a spot in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, with McAdoo also being joined by Denver Rockets pick Paul Westphal from the University of Southern California and Dallas Chaparrals selected sophomore Bill Walton from UCLA (the latter of whom would become the #1 pick for the 1974 NBA draft as well), who both won at least one NBA Finals championship themselves during their careers and had significant success during their professional careers in the NBA.

Out of the 92 overall ABA All-Stars, there were six players eligible to be selected in this year's draft that would make it to the ABA All-Star Game either twice or once while the event existed: Brian Taylor, James Silas, and Swen Nater would make it to the All-Star Game twice in the ABA, while Claude Terry, the undrafted Don Buse, and the undrafted Dave Twardzik would make it to the All-Star Game only once there. Brian Taylor would be the player to see some of the most honors given to a player from this year's draft that actually played in the ABA with Taylor not only being named the Rookie of the Year in 1973 and an All-Star in the final two seasons of the ABA's existence, but also won the ABA Finals championship twice while with the New York Nets (including the final ABA Finals championship as a whole), was twice a member of the ABA's All-Defensive Team in the league's final seasons of play (joining six other players to join that team twice in their careers), and led the ABA in steals in 1975, though he would be strangely absent from the ABA All-Time Team in spite of his honors. One player that would make the ABA's All-Time Team, however, was James Silas, whose honors from the ABA included being a member of the ABA's All-Rookie Team in 1973, two All-Star appearances in the league's final seasons of play, an All-ABA Second Team spot in 1975, and an All-ABA First Team spot in 1976 (though he would later have his number retired by the San Antonio Spurs, the predecessors of the Dallas Chaparrals, in 1984, two years after retiring from play altogether and three years after last playing for the franchise in general). Another player from this draft that would also win Rookie of the Year honors by the ABA (albeit a year after Brian Taylor won his award there) was the Dutch-born Swen Nater, who returned to UCLA after the draft following "The Floridians" franchise folding operations entirely before being considered an undrafted signee for the following year's draft that later signed with the Virginia Squires after they had previously picked up his player rights in the ABA's first ever dispersal draft; Swen Nater would not only win the ABA's Rookie of the Year Award in 1974, but he'd also be named an ABA All-Star and a member of the All-ABA Second Team twice in two out of three seasons of play in the ABA (as well as lead not just the ABA in rebounding in 1975, but also the NBA in rebounding in 1980). The last player that was drafted this year to make it to an ABA All-Star Game, Claude Terry, was mainly named an All-Star due to the Denver Nuggets (the modern predecessors of the Denver Rockets) being the best team of the ABA during the final All-Star Game in the ABA's existence due to the unique circumstances from before the 1976 ABA All-Star Game. As for the other two players that made it to an ABA All-Star Game while also not being drafted during this year's draft period, Don Buse from the at the time Division II University of Evansville decided to forgo playing for the Phoenix Suns (who drafted him in the third round of the 1972 NBA draft) immediately for a shot at playing with his home state Indiana Pacers, which led to him being an ABA Finals champion in 1973, a two-time ABA All-Defensive team member in the league's final two seasons of existence, and an ABA All-Star (by replacing a player from the Denver Nuggets), an All-ABA Second Team member, and the ABA's leader in steals during that league's final season of existence before seeing similar looking success in the NBA following the eventual ABA-NBA merger with both the Pacers and Suns later in his career. Finally, Dave Twardzik from Old Dominion University stayed with the area's Virginia Squires team as an undrafted player, yet he was able to make it to the ABA's All-Star Game in 1975 (despite that team having the worst record in league history by that time) before later winning an NBA Finals championship in 1977 and then having his number be retired by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Strangely enough, this draft period would be the only draft period to have recorded inconsistencies in terms of even draft locations of certain players, never mind draft orderings found within the first five rounds of the 1972 ABA draft (if not even later than that), according to the select few basketball websites that are willing to record the ABA's draft record history in the first place.^{[1][6][7][2][8]} As such, the ordering of not just certain players that were drafted, but even certain teams that might have drafted some of these players are expected to be wildly inconsistent in terms of provided results given out to the public as of 2025, meaning this draft order shown here is likely not going to be 100% accurate in terms of output, especially since it looked like many teams lost selections within the first five rounds of the draft during this year (potentially due to some stipulations relating to the first failed ABA-NBA merger plans made earlier in the decade). That being said, this draft period would be considered the last draft period where the Memphis Pros would participate under that team name, since they would later rename themselves to the Memphis Tams (Tams being an acronym of the states of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi that the franchise hoped to gain a local fanbase from out of each state, with their new logo in that time reflecting that name by showcasing a tam o'shanter style hat in terms of a more physical representation of what the Tams in question were).^[3] It also ultimately became the last draft event altogether for both "The Floridians" and the Pittsburgh Condors franchises since they would both fold operations entirely on July 13, 1972, leaving the ABA with only nine operating teams for less than a month before the creation of the San Diego Conquistadors months after this draft period ended on August 10 that same year effectively had the team taking on both of those teams' spots since they both looked at San Diego as a relocation option at one point in time, as well as led to the ABA working with 10 teams for most of its operating tenure instead of 11 teams going forward.

These players were officially considered draft eligible for the 1972 ABA draft and went undrafted this year, yet played at least one regular season or playoff game for the ABA before the ABA-NBA merger actually commenced a few years later.

On July 13, 1972, two of the ABA's eleven inaugural teams in "The Floridians" and the Pittsburgh Condors would have their players be dispersed in the first dispersal draft in the ABA's history. This dispersal draft would involve all of the original ABA teams that remained alive and kicking at the time, but it would not include the San Diego Conquistadors expansion team since their creation was done after the dispersal draft happened. This draft would also be considered the debut drafting period of the Memphis Tams under their newly rebranded name.^[3] There would be six total rounds of draft picks from this dispersal draft that the nine ABA teams that were left over at the time would utilize from taking either "The Floridians" or Pittsburgh Condors players that were available for themselves.^[14] Any players that weren't selected after this draft concluded would be placed on waivers and enter free agency afterward.^[4] Interestingly enough, the Denver Rockets were the only ABA team to select players from only one of the two defunct franchises, with them opting to select players only from "The Floridians" franchise instead of either both franchises like every other team here did or even just players from the Pittsburgh Condors only. Outside of that note, the following teams would select these players from either "The Floridians" or the Pittsburgh Condors franchises, with parentheses showcasing the original team they were either on or had the player rights to at the time before the dispersal draft commenced unless directly stated otherwise.

Following the dispersal draft of "The Floridians" and Pittsburgh Condors franchises, the ABA would host their first and only expansion draft in league history with the San Diego Conquistadors taking on one of the replacement spots for either "The Floridians" or the Pittsburgh Condors since both franchises, coincidentally enough, previously looked at San Diego as a relocation option before folding operations altogether. The expansion draft for the San Diego Conquistadors would take place on August 10, 1972, almost a month after the dispersal draft had concluded, with the Conquistadors being allowed to have two selections of players in essentially one total round (but really two rounds^[7]) from the nine remaining inaugural ABA teams at hand. 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 alongside George Peeples instead of two of their actual players on their end.^[5] In any case, Mike Barrett of the Virginia Squires would be named the #1 pick for the San Diego Conquistadors during the expansion draft. Alongside those particular notes of interest, the following players would be selected by the Conquistadors for the franchise's expansion draft.

San Diego Conquistadors

Expansion draft roster:

• Round 1: Stew Johnson, Carolina Cougars
• Round 1: George E. Johnson, Dallas Chaparrals
• Round 1: Art Becker, Denver Rockets
• Round 1: George Peeples, Indiana Pacers
• Round 1: Les Hunter, Kentucky Colonels
• Round 1: Don Sidle, Memphis Tams
• Round 1: Ollie Taylor, New York Nets
• Round 1: Red Robbins, Utah Stars
• Round 1: Mike Barrett, Virginia Squires
• Round 2: Larry Miller, Carolina Cougars
• Round 2: Simmie Hill, Dallas Chaparrals
• Round 2: Chuck Williams, Denver Rockets
• Round 2: Draft rights to Dwight Jones, Indiana Pacers
• Round 2: Lonnie Wright, Kentucky Colonels
• Round 2: Charlie Williams, Memphis Tams
• Round 2: Gene Moore, New York Nets
• Round 2: Mike Butler, Utah Stars
• Round 2: Craig Raymond, Virginia Squires

• 1972 ABA Draft on databaseBasketball.com
• 1972-73 ABA Rookies