1967 ABA draft


The 1967 ABA draft was the first draft done by the American Basketball Association, an upstart rivaling league to the National Basketball Association that they would eventually merge with as a part of the NBA nearly a decade later. This fledgling draft was held as a "secret draft" after the conclusion of a three-day-long league's meeting ironing out the finer details regarding most of the new league in question for the upcoming months, such as replacing an originally planned ABA team held in Kansas City, Missouri with one that would operate out in Denver, Colorado that eventually became the Denver Rockets. After concluding their meeting on April 2, 1967, the eleven team owners would take turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility at the time of this draft was eligible for selection. If a player left college early, he would not be considered eligible for selection until his college class graduated, though the ABA would take exception to certain players at hand, if deemed necessary on their end. 130 players were selected in the draft. Due to this being the first season of the ABA existing, the new league would determine the draft ordering of teams by a draft lottery for the first round with the reverse ordering of the lottery being the official draft order for the second round, followed by a new draft lottery for the third round then resulting in the reverse ordering of that being the fourth round's draft order, with subsequent odd-numbered rounds resulting in a new random rounding order and subsequent even-numbered rounds resulting in the reversal of that previous round's ordering in question. However, the proper draft order listing for this year's ABA draft would not be made publicly available as of 2025.

Draftee career notes

from Providence College was selected first overall by the Indiana Pacers. In addition to him being selected as the #1 pick by both the ABA and NBA, he was also drafted in the 1967 National Football League Draft, despite never having played college football. He was drafted last in the 17-round draft by the New Orleans Saints. Earl Monroe from Winston-Salem State University, who went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, was drafted somewhere in the first round by the Pittsburgh Pipers, who would later win the first ever ABA championship. Of the players drafted by the ABA this year, Monroe, Walt Frazier, Louie Dampier, and Mel Daniels have been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for the work they have done as players either in the ABA or the rivaling NBA, with two of these players also being named as both the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and NBA 75th Anniversary Team and the other two players being named as members of the ABA All-Time Team. In addition to them, both Phil Jackson and Pat Riley became very successful head coaches in the NBA following their careers spent in the NBA, becoming Hall of Fame worthy coaches in the process. Not only that, but the post-draft period saw ABA commissioner George Mikan allow for some players that had previously been banned by the NBA due to their apparent involvement in the 1961 NCAA University Division men's basketball gambling scandal, such as Doug Moe, Tony Jackson, Charlie Williams, and future Hall of Famers Roger Brown and Connie Hawkins to all get second chances in the ABA, with each of them even being named All-Stars there at least once throughout their careers.
Three out of six players that had played throughout the ABA's entire existence were taken through this year's draft period by teams that selected them, with Byron Beck and Louie Dampier being the only players to stay with the teams that first drafted them throughout the ABA's entire existence up until the ABA-NBA merger came to pass in 1976, with Beck staying with the Denver franchise once they made it to the NBA. Interestingly, Byron Beck would be drafted by the Denver Rockets while previously going to the University of Denver, while Louie Dampier would be drafted by the Kentucky Colonels while previously attending the University of Kentucky. Louie Dampier and Mel Daniels would see the most ABA All-Star selections throughout the entire league's existence at seven appearances each. Twelve players who were draft eligible this year would make it to at least one ABA All-Star Game, with ten of them actually being drafted from this year's ABA draft specifically, while only Larry Bunce and DeWitt Menyard were both able to make it to the inaugural ABA All-Star Game despite going undrafted in the ABA this year. Mel Daniels also had five total All-ABA Team selections, while Louie Dampier had four total All-ABA Second Team selections and Jimmy Jones had three total All-ABA First Team selections; Daniels and Dampier later became two out of nine ABA players to join an All-ABA Team while playing their rookie seasons in the ABA, while all three of these players also tied three other players for the most amount of All-ABA Team appearances in each of their respective spots throughout the league's existence. Daniels also won the ABA's inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1968, as well as became a two-time MVP for the ABA in 1969 and 1971 and was named the ABA All-Star Game's MVP in 1971 despite his team losing that year, with him also being one of three different ABA players to have his number retired by the Pacers. This year would also see multiple football players get selected from this year's ABA draft with the aforementioned Jimmy Walker from the Indiana Pacers being a Mr. Irrelevant selection for the New Orleans Saints, Gene Washington from the Indiana Pacers being selected either at or near the end of the ABA draft joining the Minnesota Vikings instead, and Ron Widby from the New Orleans Buccaneers foregoing his professional basketball career to become a punter for the Dallas Cowboys after a season of play. Another New Orleans Buccaneers selection in Bob Seagren would also later become an Olympic gold medalist in pole vaulting for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City alongside a silver medalist in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.

Historic draft notes

No generally known record of which player was taken in which draft round outside of Jimmy Walker as the #1 pick and Bob Netolicky as the 22nd pick by the Indiana Pacers, as well as the first round pick of the Kentucky Colonels, the first round pick of the Minnesota Muskies, the first round pick of the New Jersey Americans, the first round pick of the New Orleans Buccaneers, the first and fourth round picks of the Pittsburgh Pipers, the first five round picks of the Denver Rockets, and the entire draft ordering of the Dallas Chaparrals was publicly kept throughout the ABA's inaugural draft history as of 2025. The reason for this was 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, especially since it related to the league trying to sign top-tier college-level talents to join their league over the NBA through a range of behind-the-scenes strategies. after previously ditching their original plans to play in Kansas City, Missouri due to a lack of suitable home arenas to play in before later changing their team name to the Denver Rockets before the start of the season due to ownership changes brought up by the newer owners led by Denver's local Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines company; the team currently known now as the Brooklyn Nets initially went by the name of the New Jersey Freighters at first due to one of the owners also being the President of nearby Manhattan's ABC Freight Forwarding Company at the time before later becoming the New York Americans and then ultimately entered their inaugural season as the New Jersey Americans due to there being no suitable arenas in New York at the time for them; and the team that later became the Oakland Oaks to start out their ABA tenure originally started out as the Oakland Americans at the time before a dispute with the New Jersey later turned into a future New York franchise led to the Oakland franchise originally trying to change their team name to the Jacks What is known, however, was that the Indiana Pacers won the ABA draft lottery and would select Jimmy Walker as the #1 pick in the process, with the second round being reversed in drafting order resulting in the Pacers having the last pick of the second round for Bob Netolicky. 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 with them sending their 1968 first round pick to Oakland for Marlbert Pradd, as well as select multiple multi-athlete players in Bob Seagren and Ron Widby that year, with the Indiana Pacers also selecting a football player as well in Gene Washington. Any players that have a ‡ next to their names during this draft period mean that these players were selected for the ABA All-Time Team in 1997.

Draft

;Anaheim Amigos
;Dallas Chaparrals
It was later revealed by the Chaparrals' general manager at the time Max Williams that the draft ordering the team did that year was due to the team's original co-owner, Roland Speth, mistaking Williams' draft listing that he did in alphabetical order as a list for the best possible talents being taken at hand as early as they could have done so. Speth would later leave the team's ownership group following this blunder.
;Denver Larks/Lark Buntings/Rockets
;Houston Mavericks
;Indiana Pacers
;Kentucky Colonels
;Minnesota Muskies
;New Jersey Freighters / New York/New Jersey Americans
;New Orleans Buccaneers
;Oakland Americans/Jacks/Oaks
;Pittsburgh Pipers