| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Date | April 21, 1949[1] |
| Location | Commodore Hotel (New York City, New York)[1] |
| League | BAA |
| Teams | 11 |
| Overall | 76 |
| Rounds | 11 |
| First | Howie Shannon, Providence Steamrollers |
| Territorial | Ed Macauley, St. Louis Bombers Vern Mikkelsen, Minneapolis Lakers |
| Prev | 1948 |
| Next | 1950 |
The 1949 BAA draft was the third annual draft of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the last draft that was done while going under the original Basketball Association of America name before the BAA merged with the National Basketball League to form the National Basketball Association (NBA) on August 3, 1949.[1][2][3] The BAA's draft was held on April 21, 1949, months before the start of the 1949–50 NBA season, which debuted the NBA name properly. In this draft, eleven BAA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. However, one month before the BAA's final draft began, the NBL would end up getting an early jumpstart over the BAA with their own draft by starting their own draft system some time in March 1949. Three of the first round selections made by BAA teams (Alex Groza, Wallace Jones, and Ralph Beard) alongside college teammates Cliff Barker and Joe Holland would all agree to sign with the newly created Indianapolis Olympians expansion franchise, who had been intended to replace the Kautskys in the NBL before ultimately replacing the Jets for the NBA merger.[1] After initial disagreements made from the previous year, the BAA and NBL would reconcile their differences after the BAA draft ended and eventually agreed to a merger on August 3, 1949, with the aforementioned Indianapolis Jets and Providence Steamrollers being left out on the BAA's side and the Oshkosh All-Stars, Hammond Calumet Buccaneers, and Dayton Rens being left out on the NBL's side; this merger would now leave players with few alternative methods to enter the soon-to-be-renamed NBA draft going forward, since direct competition for payment between the two professional leagues was now essentially replaced by Amateur Athletic Union basketball, minor league basketball, and various barnstorming teams if players wanted to work before entering the draft system.[1] During the draft, three teams agreed to give up certain draft picks in order to secure the player rights to underclassmen that left college, but already signed and played for the BAA the previous season, with Howie Shannon being considered the #1 pick by default for the Providence Steamrollers, George Kaftan being #4 for the Boston Celtics, and 1949 Rookie of the Year Harry Gallatin being #20 for the New York Knicks. The 76 players selected was one number higher to the number of players selected in the 1988 NBA draft; both drafts have had some of the fewest picks selected prior to 1989 (when the NBA draft was reduced to two rounds ever since).
Draft selections and draftee career notes
Howie Shannon from Kansas State University was selected first overall by the Providence Steamrollers. However, Ed Macauley and Vern Mikkelsen were selected before the draft as St. Louis Bombers' and Minneapolis Lakers' territorial picks respectively. Not only that, but Shannon would also join George Kaftan of the Boston Celtics and Harry Gallatin of the New York Knicks as three BAA/NBA draft picks where they would be drafted in this year's draft, but played in the previous BAA season with the same team that drafted them earlier on. Four players from this draft, Vern Mikkelsen, Ed Macauley, Dick McGuire and Slater Martin have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.[4]
Key
| Pos. | G | F | C |
| Position | Guard | Forward | Center |
Draft
Other picks
The following list includes other draft picks who have appeared in at least one NBA game.[7][8]
Undrafted players
These players were not selected in the 1949 draft but played at least one game in the NBA.
See also
Notes
- ^ Nationality indicates the player's national team or representative nationality. If a player has not competed at the international level, then the nationality indicates the national team which the player is eligible to represent according to FIBA rules.
References
- General
- "1949 BAA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Archived 30 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 22, 2009.
- "1947–1948 BAA Drafts, 1949–1951 NBA Drafts". The Association for Professional Basketball Research. Archived July 4, 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
- Specific
- ^ Bradley, Robert D. (2013). The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810890695., pg. 10
- ^ "NBL, BAA merge, end pro net war". The Republic. UP. 4 August 1949. p. 11. Retrieved 21 June 2024. – via Newspapers.com
- ^ Berger, Phil. "First Season". AmericanHeritage.com. American Heritage Publishing. Archived from the original on 2009-06-26. Retrieved August 15, 2009.
- ^ "Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Inductees". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
- ^ "3 'Tucky Stars among choices in BAA draft". The Journal Herald. United Press. 22 March 1949. p. 8. Retrieved 25 June 2024. – via Newspapers.com
- ^ Jim O'Leary (10 August 1949). "Basketball merger saved red face for Alex Groza". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. 17. Retrieved 25 June 2024. – via Newspapers.com
- ^ "1949 BAA Draft"
- ^ "NBA Past Drafts - RealGM"