1947 BAA Draft

1947 BAA draft
General information
Date(s)	July 1, 1947
Location	Detroit, Michigan
First selection	Clifton McNeely, Pittsburgh Ironmen
BAA draft 1948 →

The 1947 BAA draft was the inaugural draft of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which later became the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on July 1, 1947, before the 1947–48 season. In this draft, nine remaining BAA teams along with the Baltimore Bullets who joined the BAA from the American Basketball League, took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. In the first round of the draft, the teams select in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season, while the Bullets were assigned the tenth pick, the last pick of the first round. The Pittsburgh Ironmen and Toronto Huskies participated in this draft, but they folded before the season opened.

The first selection of the draft, Clifton McNeely from Texas Wesleyan University, did not play in the BAA. Instead, McNeely opted for a high school coaching career in Texas. The fourth pick, Walt Dropo, also did not play in the BAA and opted for a professional baseball career instead, eventually playing 13 seasons in the Major League Baseball (MLB). The 7th and 10th pick, Jack Underman and Larry Killick, were also never played in the BAA. Three players from this draft, Harry Gallatin, Andy Phillip and Jim Pollard, have been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame.