1973 ABA draft
The 1973 ABA draft was the seventh draft done by the American Basketball Association, a rivaling professional basketball league to the National Basketball Association that they would eventually merge as a part of the NBA only a few years later despite official merger talks ultimately being dead during these later, more competitive years of the ABA's history. This draft would be the only draft in the league's history where they would experiment with the format by utilizing four different types of drafts from the months of January until May 1973, with the draft that had the most amount of rounds showcasing the least amount of success by comparison to the other drafts in question due to most of the players that were drafted there not even playing professionally at all after being selected in the final draft done in this period of time. The first draft done on January 15 that year was for the Special Circumstances Draft, which focused on players that the ABA saw were eligible for selection early either as college underclassmen or as an early professional player of sorts in the case of George Gervin, with the ordering on that two round draft being done around the midway point of sorts for the 1972–73 ABA season and Mike Bantom being the #1 pick of the Denver Rockets for that draft. It also became the final draft of sorts that the Dallas Chaparrals would participate in under that name, as following the conclusion of that aforementioned season, the team would move from Dallas to San Antonio to become the modern-day San Antonio Spurs going forward. Following that, the ABA did both the ten round Senior Draft and then the two round Undergraduate Draft on April 25, with both Bo Lamar and Bill Walton of the San Diego Conquistadors being considered the official #1 picks of those respective drafts. Finally, on May 18, thirteen days after the NBA completed their general draft period, the ABA utilized a fifteen round Supplemental Draft that only eight of the ten ABA teams participated in altogether, which saw Larry Moore of the San Diego Conquistadors become the presumed #1 pick of that specific draft, though he was the only #1 pick from an ABA draft to not have a professional career altogether. The first three drafts would see players that had genuine success throughout both the ABA and NBA in their careers, but the last draft saw mostly failures there that never played professionally with scant few professional successes like Slick Watts and Harvey Catchings alongside brief professional careers like John Coughran, James Garvin, Billy Harris, and Wayne Pack instead.
Draftee career notes
Due to the unique circumstances relating to this draft, it can be accurate to say that the ABA had four different #1 picks for the different drafts they utilized instead of just one standardized #1 pick like the NBA did for the 1973 NBA draft. For the #1 pick of the Special Circumstances Draft, Mike Bantom from St. Joseph's University was selected as the first pick of that draft by the Denver Rockets due to them having the worst record by that period of time. Meanwhile, the #1 pick that's considered the consensus #1 pick of the 1973 ABA draft due to him being that for the ABA's senior draft was Bo Lamar of the newly created San Diego Conquistadors expansion franchise. For the undergraduate draft that came right after the senior draft, that particular draft's #1 pick was Bill Walton from UCLA by the San Diego Conquistadors. Finally, for the Supplemental Draft that came by in May, the presumed #1 pick of that specific draft was Larry Moore from the University of Texas in Arlington by the San Diego Conquistadors due to them being the holders of the #1 pick in the previous two drafts, though he not only wouldn't be drafted by the NBA, but none of the players selected in the first round from that specific draft would play professionally at all whatsoever. Meanwhile, Bo Lamar would be named a member of the All-ABA Rookie Team in his first season in the ABA before fizzling out of his professional basketball career, Mike Bantom would be a part of the All-NBA Rookie Team in his career before having a more sustainable professional basketball career by comparison to Bo Lamar, Doug Collins would later become a four-time NBA All-Star before coaching in the NBA later in his career, and Bill Walton ultimately would make it to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for his overall career.From the Special Circumstances Draft, three players from that specific draft would be a part of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Freshman #8 pick Robert Parish from Centenary College, former Eastern Michigan University sophomore #10 pick George Gervin, and junior #11 pick Bobby Jones from the University of North Carolina would all make it to the Hall of Fame, with Gervin and Jones both playing in the ABA during their careers. For the Senior Draft, only #40 pick Krešimir Ćosić from Brigham Young University and #51 pick George Karl from the University of North Carolina would end up making it to the Hall of Fame themselves, with the former primarily making it due to his international playing career and the latter primarily making it for his coaching career more than anything else. The other interesting notable player from the senior draft was #58 pick Dave Winfield, who was the only player to get drafted in all four of the ABA, NBA, NFL, and MLB, with Winfield choosing to play in the MLB's San Diego Padres and later go into the Baseball Hall of Fame for his efforts with that league. Finally, the Undergraduate Draft would not just see the aforementioned #101 pick in junior Bill Walton from UCLA, but also sophomore #102 pick David Thompson from North Carolina State University make it to the Hall of Fame for their professional careers at hand. Finally, the Supplemental Draft would see nobody from this specific draft make it to the Hall of Fame, though the last pick from that draft in junior Harvey Catchings from Hardin–Simmons University would be the father of Hall of Fame WNBA star player Tamika Catchings. A few of the Hall of Famers from this year's draft would also play in the ABA All-Star Game at least once as well.
Of the 92 overall ABA All-Stars, only eight total players would make it to at least one ABA All-Star Game during the league's final seasons of existence, with two of them making it to all three of the league's final All-Star Games. From the Special Circumstances Draft, four players from this specific draft would be in the ABA All-Star Game, with #2 pick Mike Green being an All-Star in 1975 after being a member of the ABA All-Rookie Team in 1974, #4 pick Larry Kenon being one of two three-time ABA All-Stars from this draft alongside an ABA All-Rookie Team member and champion in 1974, #10 pick George Gervin being the other three-time ABA All-Star from this draft that was a late ABA All-Rookie Team member for 1973 due to his prior semi-professional status at the original Continental Basketball Association making him eligible for early ABA play and a two-time All-ABA Second Team member in the league's final two seasons of play for a worthwhile ABA All-Time Team spot and a later number retirement for the San Antonio Spurs, and #11 pick Bobby Jones being an ABA All-Star and an All-ABA Second Team member in the league's final season of play after being named a member of the ABA All-Rookie Team in 1975 due to him joining the ABA during the following season instead, as well as one of seven ABA players to join the ABA All-Defensive Team only two times throughout one's playing career there. For the Senior Draft, only #25 pick Caldwell Jones would play well enough to make it to the ABA All-Star Game out of everyone that was from that specific draft, with him making it in 1975 due in part to leading the league in blocks for two straight seasons in a row in both 1974 and 1975. Finally, with regards to the Undergraduate Draft that came right after the Senior Draft, that draft saw three players selected that would be ABA All-Stars, with the technical #102 pick David Thompson being a part of the ABA All-Time Team despite only one season of play in the ABA's final season of existence with him earning not just the final year's All-Star Game spot, but also the final ABA All-Star Game MVP Award; the final ABA Rookie of the Year Award alongside one of the final ABA All-Rookie Team spots, and even one of the final All-ABA Second Team spots in his only season of play with the ABA; the technical #106 pick Marvin Barnes also being a part of the ABA All-Time Team in only two seasons of play with two ABA All-Star Game appearances alongside him winning the ABA's Rookie of the Year Award in 1975 and appearing in both the ABA All-Rookie Team and All-ABA Second Team in that same first year of ABA play; and the technical #110 pick Maurice Lucas was the fourth overall player from this year's draft to also be named a member of the ABA All-Time Team while playing in only two seasons despite having only one ABA All-Star appearance in the league's final season of play. Due in part to the high amount of drafted players the ABA had this season combined with the overall amount of seasons the ABA had left to actually play, there would actually be no undrafted ABA All-Stars for the first time ever.