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1952 NBA draft

Basketball player selection

Field	Value
name	1952 NBA draft
sport	Basketball
date	April 26, 1952
location	Minneapolis, Minnesota
league	NBA
teams	10
overall	106
rounds	17
first	Mark Workman, Milwaukee Hawks
hofnum	{{Collapsible list
title	1
1	F Clyde Lovellette}}
prev	[1951](1951-nba-draft)
next	[1953](1953-nba-draft)

The 1952 NBA draft was the sixth annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 26, 1952, before the 1952–53 season. In this draft, ten remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. In each round, the teams selected in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season, except for the defending champion, the Minneapolis Lakers, who was assigned the last pick of each round. The draft consisted of 17 rounds comprising 106 players selected. However, this draft was notable for this being the first time the NBA would not immediately announce the ordering of their draft choices to the public due to worries by the young league that they would give an upcoming rivaling amateur league, the National Industrial Basketball League, an idea of who the best college players were at the time, especially for their two top teams there in the Bartlesville Phillips 66ers and Peoria Caterpillar Tractors; notably, the NBA would also give the 66ers and Peoria invites to the NBA, though they both denied the opportunity to join the league as professional teams.

Draft selections and draftee career notes

Mark Workman from West Virginia University was selected first overall by the Milwaukee Hawks. Bill Mlkvy from Temple University was selected before the draft as Philadelphia Warriors' territorial pick. Don Meineke from the University of Dayton was selected by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the second round and went on to win the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award. The ninth pick of the draft, Clyde Lovellette from University of Kansas, was the only player from that draft to make it to an NBA All-Star Game at least once and to have been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame. As such, it would be seen as one of the least successful and less talked about drafts in NBA history, though at least one media outlet would mention the 1952 NBA draft as the worst NBA draft ever held, while also noting that this draft would have been an even bigger disaster without Clyde Lovellette's selection in mind and that its long-term efforts for the four teams with the worst records that season led to them either folding operations or moving elsewhere years after this draft concluded.

Tenth-round pick Gene Conley played both professional basketball and baseball. He played six seasons in the NBA for the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks as well as 11 seasons in the Major League Baseball (MLB). He won three NBA championships with the Celtics as well as the 1957 World Series with the Milwaukee Braves, becoming the only athlete to win world championships in both basketball and baseball.

Dick Groat from Duke was picked 3rd overall by the Fort Wayne Pistons and went on to win the National League 1960 MVP, and two World Series championships while playing shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates and then the St. Louis Cardinals.

Key

Position	Guard	Forward	Center

Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	College
T	–		F	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	Temple
1	1		F/C	United States	Milwaukee Hawks	West Virginia
1	2		G/F	United States	Baltimore Bullets	Eastern Kentucky
1	3		G	United States	Fort Wayne Pistons	Duke
1	4	#	G	United States	Indianapolis Olympians	LSU
1	5		F/C	United States	New York Knicks	Whitworth
1	6	#	F	United States	Boston Celtics	Missouri
1	7		F	United States	Syracuse Nationals	Louisville
1	8	#	F/C	United States	Rochester Royals	Iowa
1	9	^	F/C	United States	Minneapolis Lakers	Kansas
2	10		F/C	United States	Milwaukee Hawks	Syracuse
2	11		G	United States	Baltimore Bullets	Dayton
2	12		F/C	United States	Fort Wayne Pistons	Dayton
2	13		F/C	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	Texas A&M
2	14		F/C	United States	Indianapolis Olympians	St. John's
2	15		G	United States	New York Knicks	Utah State
2	16	#	G	United States	Boston Celtics	Kansas State
2	17		G	United States	Syracuse Nationals	NYU
2	18		G	United States	Rochester Royals	St. John's
2	19		F	United States	Minneapolis Lakers	Cincinnati

Other picks

The following list includes other draft picks who have appeared in at least one NBA game.

Round	Pick	Position	Nationality	Team	College
3	25	G	United States	New York Knicks	NYU
4	37	G	United States	Boston Celtics	Canisius
4	38	G	United States	Rochester Royals	St. John's
4		G	United States	Baltimore Bullets	Lawrence Tech
5	40	F	United States	Milwaukee Hawks	TCU
5	43	F	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	Villanova
5	44	G	United States	Indianapolis Olympians	Western Kentucky
5	47	G/F	United States	Syracuse Nationals	Maryland State
6	59	G/F	United States	Minneapolis Lakers	Cincinnati
7	61	F	United States	Baltimore Bullets	New Mexico A&M
7	64	G	United States	Indianapolis Olympians	Kentucky
8	73	G	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	Wyoming
8	75	F	United States	New York Knicks	Long Island
10	90	F/C	United States	Boston Celtics	Washington State
11	93	F	United States	Baltimore Bullets	Oregon
11	96	G	United States	Minneapolis Lakers	Purdue
12	97	F	United States	Baltimore Bullets	Stanford

Notable undrafted players

These players were not selected in the 1952 draft but played at least one game in the NBA.

Pos.	Nationality	School/club team
G	United States	Fordham
C	United States	Oklahoma State
F	United States	Loyola Chicago
F	United States	Louisville

References

;General

;Specific

References

(February 14, 2022). "1952 NBA Draft Order - Draft Notes - the Draft Review".
"Rookie of the Year". Turner Sports Interactive, Inc.
"Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Inductees". basketball-reference.com.
http://basketball-players.pointafter.com/stories/5042/2000-nba-draft-re-pick-terrible-awful{{Dead link. (May 2020)
"The Worst Draft in NBA history".
Grossfeld, Stan. (January 13, 2008). "Conley had twice as much fun". The Boston Globe.
"1952 NBA Draft".
"NBA Past Drafts - RealGM".

Info: Wikipedia Source

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