1949 BAA draft

Vern Mikkelsen, Minneapolis Lakers 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. 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. 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. 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).