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 1973, the ABA would host four different drafts that essentially held the same type of purpose at various different points of the year, while 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. In addition to that, according to former Washington Caps and Virginia Squires head coach Al Bianchi, the ABA would host their drafts on the drop of a hat and if a team wanted someone even after their draft was officially over and done with, they'd put him on their draft list anyway, which would later influence the rivaling NBA draft system during the 1970s decade.Pluto, Terry, Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association (Simon & Schuster, 1990), , p. 33 Due to the secretive nature of the league's early drafts alongside their looser structures, not much is known about the draft records of where certain players were selected in which round early on outside of who the #1 pick of each draft was. It wouldn't be until 1971 where the ABA would list out a proper ordering of rounds and teams in the draft systems they had, and even then, the ABA did not officially list out a proper draft list selection ordering of the 1972 draft for the first five rounds in particular, while the league showcased extra draft gimmicks in 1973 and 1974 alongside the actual ABA drafts done before having a simple draft similar to the NBA draft again (albeit with a bonus round added for two teams via outside circumstances) in 1975.

First overall picks YearTeamPlayerPositionCollege1967Indiana PacersShooting GuardProvidence Friars1968Houston MavericksPower Forward/CenterHouston Cougars1969New York NetsCenterUCLA Bruins1970New York NetsCenterSt. Bonaventure Bonnies1971Utah StarsPower Forward/CenterWestern Kentucky Hilltoppers1972Virginia SquiresCenter/Power ForwardNorth Carolina Tar Heels 1973San Diego ConquistadorsPoint GuardSouthwestern Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns1974Virginia SquiresPower Forward/CenterMaryland Terrapins1975Denver NuggetsCenterMorgan State Bears

Notes

Drafts 1967 ABA draft

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. 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, 1967. What is known, however, was that the Indiana Pacers won the first ever ABA draft lottery and would select the #1 pick in the process, with the second round being reversed in draft order, followed by a new draft lottery (alongside territorial picks in mind) for the third round, with the fourth round being reversed in order of what the third round would become, and then subsequent odd-numbered rounds being done in a newly randomized rounding order and subsequent even-numbered rounds resulting in the reversal of that previous round's ordering in question. What's also confirmed was that 130 players were drafted during twelve rounds of the 1967 ABA draft.Staff. "NEW COURT LOOP DRAFTS PLAYERS; 11 Teams Pick 130 Athletes --Seagren on List", The New York Times, April 3, 1967. Accessed September 1, 2010. 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. This year also saw three of the ABA's teams participate under what would ultimately become tentative names during the drafting process, with the Denver Rockets (now Denver Nuggets) initially going by the name of the Denver Larks (and at one point, the Denver Lark Buntings was considered as an extension to the original team name in mind) after already moving the previously planned Kansas City, Missouri based ABA team out to Denver before the draft began before new ownership changed the team name to subsequently save their franchise and coincide with the business the owners ran alongside the team at the time, the New Jersey Americans (now Brooklyn Nets) initially going by the New Jersey Freighters (or even New York Freighters in reference to one of the team owner's businesses that he helped run in Manhattan at the time) before later deciding to first become the New York Americans and then the New Jersey Americans by the time their first season began after failing to utilize a proper long-term home in the New York City area at the time, and the Oakland Oaks would originally go by the Oakland Americans before a dispute with the New Jersey later turned New York franchise led to them considering the Oakland Jacks name (in honor of Jack London) before ultimately going with the Oakland Oaks partially as a homage to the previous incarnation of the team name held in the second version of the American Basketball League, but was really more considered a homage to the Pacific Coast League baseball team of the same name instead.

1968 ABA draft

No known record of which player was taken in which round outside of Elvin Hayes as the #1 pick by the Houston Mavericks 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. During this specific draft, the Anaheim Amigos would move to Los Angeles and become the Los Angeles Stars, with the Stars retaining all of the Amigos' draft rights and team history from the previous season once they entered the April portion of the 1968 ABA draft. This draft year also increased the number of rounds that was had for most teams, with the draft going up to 15 rounds for most teams, with some teams utilizing at least one additional round as well (with the Amigos turned Stars using two additional rounds in their case). As such, the number of selections increased from last year's draft to this year's draft going forward with about 167 total selections made.

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 by the New York Nets and Neal Walk as the #2 pick by the Houston Mavericks (mirroring the selections made in the 1969 NBA draft by the former NBA expansion teams in the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns that year, respectively) 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 for most teams similar to last year's draft, but a total of 10 official rounds with every team was completed that draft year, meaning a fewer number of draft selections were made in this year's draft. Similar to last year's ABA draft, one ABA teams would relocate and rebrand themselves immediately in-between areas of the draft, with the previously mentioned Houston Mavericks moving to the state of North Carolina to play more as a regional franchise as the Carolina Cougars, with the Cougars retaining all of the Houston Mavericks' draft rights and team history from the previous two seasons, similar to the Los Angeles Stars retaining the history of the Anaheim Amigos after one season of play. 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, with other changes being made in the ABA during that period of time as well, including the undrafted signing of sophomore Spencer Haywood for the Denver Rockets, which later caused significant changes in the world of sports drafting thanks to the Haywood v. National Basketball Association Supreme Court case.

1970 ABA draft

No known record of which player was taken in which round outside of Bob Lanier as the #1 territorial pick of the New York Nets and Pete Maravich as the unofficial #1 pick of the Carolina Cougars was kept throughout the ABA's fourth ever draft. However, unlike the other early drafts in ABA history, the 1970 ABA draft did at least record the first three rounds' draft round ordering and draft prospect placements by comparison to the earlier drafts done during the 1960s decade, though the rest of the rounds did not specify the proper ordering of the other players in the other rounds by comparison. 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, to the point where ABA-NBA merger talks were first planned to begin after this draft concluded, though these initial plans ultimately fell short of success by the following year. This post-draft period also saw the most number of teams revamping themselves to start their upcoming season, with over half of the ABA's teams either moving elsewhere and/or revamping their team names into something new entirely.

1971 ABA draft