The 1972 NBA draft was the 26th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 10 and 15, 1972 before the 1972–73 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The first two picks in the draft belonged to the teams that finished last in each conference, with the order determined by a coin flip. The Portland Trail Blazers won the coin flip and were awarded the first overall pick, while the Buffalo Braves were awarded the second pick. The remaining first-round picks and the subsequent rounds were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. As a result of last year's supplemental hardship draft, the Cincinnati Royals, the Atlanta Hawks, the Golden State Warriors and the Baltimore Bullets forfeited their first-round picks, while the Los Angeles Lakers forfeited their fourth round pick. Prior to the start of the season, the Cincinnati Royals relocated and became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings. The draft consisted of 18 rounds comprising the selection of 198 players.

Draft selections and draftee career notes

A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was eligible for selection. If a player left college early, he would not be eligible for selection until his college class graduated. Before the draft, eight college underclassmen were declared eligible for selection under the "hardship" rule, a similar case in which Spencer Haywood successfully argued in his court case against the NBA which allowed him to play in the NBA before his college class graduated. These players had applied and gave evidence of financial hardship to the league, which granted them the right to start earning their living by starting their professional careers earlier. This was the first draft where college underclassmen were allowed to enter. LaRue Martin from Loyola University Chicago was selected first overall by the Portland Trail Blazers. Bob McAdoo, a college junior from the University of North Carolina, was selected second by the Buffalo Braves, and went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award in his first season. McAdoo, 10th pick Paul Westphal, and 12th pick Julius Erving have been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and Erving was also named to the list of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History announced at the league's 50th anniversary in 1996. McAdoo was a 3-time NBA Scoring champion, and NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1982 and 1985. He won the Most Valuable Player Award in 1975, had two All-NBA Team selections, and was a five-time All-Star. Erving had left college in 1971 to play professionally in the American Basketball Association (ABA) with the Virginia Squires. He joined the NBA in 1976 after both leagues merged, playing 11 seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. An NBA champion in 1983, he was MVP in 1981, won three ABA Most Valuable Player Awards, was All-ABA five times and All-NBA seven, and an ABA All-Star five times and NBA All-Star eleven. Paul Westphal, the 10th pick, was named All-NBA four times, an All-Star five, and on the 1974 NBA championship Boston Celtics. After retiring as a player, he went on to coach three NBA teams, most recently the Sacramento Kings. The 16th pick, Jim Price, and 34th pick, Don Buse, were also selected to an All-Star Game. Chris Ford, the 17th pick, won the NBA championship in 1981 with the Celtics. After retiring as a player, he went on to coach four NBA teams, including the Celtics. Ralph Simpson, the 11th pick, had left college in 1970 to play professionally in the ABA with Denver Rockets. He was selected to five ABA All-Star Games and four All-ABA Teams before he joined the NBA in 1976. LaRue Martin is considered one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history. Martin only lasted four seasons in the league with a career scoring average of 5.3. Martin and eight other first-round picks all had insignificant contributions to the league; none of them had career scoring averages above 9 points per game and only one of them lasted more than six seasons in the NBA. Two of the first-round picks, Erving and Simpson, had already played in the ABA before the draft. They stayed there until both leagues merged in 1976 and only Simpson played for the team that he got drafted to. In the tenth round, the Portland Trail Blazers selected Krešimir Ćosić from Brigham Young University with the 144th pick. However, he opted to play another season in college before returning to Yugoslavia in 1973. Ćosić, who was also selected in the fifth round of the 1973 draft, had a successful career in Europe, winning numerous league and club titles, as well as six gold medals with the Yugoslavian national team. For his achievements, he has been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to the FIBA Hall of Fame.

Key

Draft

Notable undrafted players

These players were not selected in the 1972 draft but played at least one game in the NBA.

Trades

Early entrants

College underclassmen

Following the success of the first ever NBA Hardship Draft the previous year, the NBA decided to continue implementing the hardship exception for college underclassmen in need for it. Originally, eight college underclassmen signed up for the draft this year, but three of them in St. John's Mel Davis, Siena College's Tony Delgado, and Kaskaskia College's Walter Gardner would all later decline entry for this year's draft. The following college basketball players successfully applied for an NBA hardship.