1947 BAA Draft

The 1947 BAA Draft was the first college player draft conducted by the Basketball Association of America, the league that would later merge with the National Basketball League and become the NBA. It established the basic concept of distributing the rights to incoming players among professional teams through a draft.

The Pittsburgh Ironmen owned the first selection and chose Texas Wesleyan star Clifton McNeely. McNeely never played in the BAA, making him one of the most unusual No. 1 overall selections in professional basketball history.

The draft nevertheless produced several players who became important figures during the NBA's formative years. Harry Gallatin, Andy Phillip and Jim Pollard became Basketball Hall of Famers, while Red Rocha, Paul Hoffman, Gene Vance, Dick Holub and others went on to substantial professional careers.

Records from the inaugural draft are not as complete as those from the modern NBA. The first-round order is well documented, but the exact overall selection order in rounds two through ten was not consistently preserved. Those later players are therefore listed by round and team without assigning speculative overall pick numbers.

The first BAA Draft: The 1947 draft was the first player draft conducted by the Basketball Association of America. The BAA began play in 1946 and would eventually merge with the National Basketball League in 1949 to form the NBA. For that reason, the 1947 BAA Draft is recognized as the beginning of what became NBA Draft history.

Draft date: Surviving historical sources disagree on the precise date. Modern Basketball-Reference records list July 1, 1947, while other historical research places the draft on June 2, 1947 at the Leland Hotel in Detroit. The location of Detroit is consistent across the major historical sources.

Clifton McNeely: Pittsburgh selected Texas Wesleyan star Clifton McNeely with the first overall pick. McNeely never played professional basketball in the BAA. Instead, he chose a career in education and coaching, making him the first No. 1 selection in BAA/NBA history and the first No. 1 pick who never played a league game.

Pittsburgh Ironmen: The Ironmen owned the first pick after finishing 15-45 during the BAA's inaugural season. The franchise folded during the summer of 1947, meaning McNeely never had an opportunity to play for the team that selected him.

Toronto Huskies: Toronto selected Wisconsin's Glen Selbo with the second overall pick. Like Pittsburgh, the Huskies folded before the 1947-48 season, making the first draft particularly unusual: the teams holding the first two selections both disappeared before the following season began.

Walt Dropo: Providence used the fourth overall pick on Connecticut's Walt Dropo. Dropo chose professional baseball instead of basketball and became a Major League Baseball star. He was named the American League Rookie of the Year with the Boston Red Sox in 1950.

Harry Gallatin: Baltimore selected Harry Gallatin in the fourth round. Gallatin eventually joined the New York Knicks and became one of the NBA's premier rebounders. He earned seven All-Star selections, led the NBA in rebounding in 1953-54 and was later inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Andy Phillip: Chicago selected Illinois guard Andy Phillip in the fifth round. Phillip developed into one of the league's elite playmakers, became a five-time NBA All-Star and was later inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Jim Pollard: Chicago selected Stanford star Jim Pollard in the seventh round. Pollard instead became a star with the Minneapolis Lakers and helped the franchise win five professional championships during the George Mikan era. He was later inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Bob Kurland: St. Louis selected Oklahoma A&M center Bob Kurland in the fourth round. Kurland was one of the greatest college players of his era but chose not to pursue a BAA career. He later became a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame for his amateur and international accomplishments.

Red Rocha: Toronto selected Oregon State center Red Rocha in the second round. Rocha went on to a nine-season BAA/NBA career and was selected to the 1951 NBA All-Star Game.

Paul Hoffman: Toronto selected Purdue's Paul Hoffman in the fifth round. Hoffman played six professional seasons and became an NBA All-Star with the Baltimore Bullets in 1951.

Wat Misaka: New York selected Utah guard Wat Misaka in the seventh round. Misaka appeared in three games for the Knicks during the 1947-48 season and became the first non-white player and first player of Asian descent to play in what is now recognized as NBA history.

Draft depth: Basketball-Reference's reconstructed draft database identifies 78 selections, 33 of whom eventually appeared in the BAA or NBA. The class produced four future NBA All-Stars: Harry Gallatin, Andy Phillip, Jim Pollard and Red Rocha.

Ten rounds: The inaugural draft extended for 10 rounds, but teams gradually stopped selecting players. Only Baltimore, Chicago and New York are represented in the reconstructed 10th round.

Incomplete overall numbering: Exact overall selection numbers for rounds two through ten were not preserved reliably. NBAHoopsOnline therefore lists those selections by their documented round and team without assigning artificial overall pick numbers.

Franchises disappeared quickly: Pittsburgh and Toronto participated in the draft but folded before the next season. Cleveland and Detroit, two other members of the inaugural BAA, also folded during the summer of 1947. Baltimore joined the BAA from the American Basketball League before the 1947-48 season.

Beginning of NBA Draft history: Although the NBA name did not exist in 1947, the BAA's records were carried forward into NBA history. The 1947 BAA Draft therefore stands as the first draft in the historical lineage of today's NBA Draft.