1973–74 San Antonio Spurs season

ABA Draft

Main article: 1973 ABA draft

Interestingly, this year's ABA draft would involve four different types of drafts throughout the early 1973 year: a "Special Circumstances Draft" on January 15, a "Senior Draft" on April 25, a "Undergraduate Draft" also on April 25, and a "Supplemental Draft" on May 18. However, unlike every other ABA team at hand, this team would actually do the "Special Circumstances Draft" while using their old Dallas Chaparrals name since they were still called that back on January 15, 1973, while with every other draft after that, the team would make these selections either under the initially planned San Antonio Gunslingers name or the eventual San Antonio Spurs name they would use by the end of the season, if not the initially planned San Antonio Gunslingers name for the rest of these drafts before later becoming the San Antonio Spurs after the draft periods ended. Regardless of the timeline of San Antonio's selections, the new San Antonio franchise would have all of the Chaparrals' past history and draft picks, including those of the "Special Circumstances Draft" back in January 1973. As such, the following Dallas Chaparrals/San Antonio Gunslingers(/Spurs) draft picks were retroactively made by the Spurs properly this year.

Special Circumstances Draft

The selections of center Kevin Kunnert and small forward John Brown can be considered the last two official selections ever made by the Dallas Chaparrals franchise since those two particular picks were made back when the franchise was still going by the Dallas Chaparrals name at the time. Going from this point onward, all other selections made throughout the later drafts done this year will officially be considered San Antonio Spurs draft picks (even if they were all initially considered San Antonio Gunslingers draft picks at the time of these respective drafts first starting), with the selections of Kunnert and Brown being transferred from the Dallas Chaparrals to the new San Antonio franchise following the conclusion of the previous season, starting with their purchase from San Antonio's Professional Sports, Inc. group with the unique loan-lease plan they first had, which gave the Chaparrals the right to revive their franchise back in Dallas had the Spurs not figured things out as well as they did in their first year of ownership in the ABA.

Senior Draft

The "Senior Draft" done in April is often considered the official, main draft period of the 1973 ABA draft by basketball historians. Also, when speaking retroactively with the Spurs, even though these selections made starting with the "Senior Draft" onward may have been made under the San Antonio Gunslingers name, all of these selections are still considered picks made by the San Antonio Spurs properly, if only retroactively speaking. Notably, the team's first ever draft pick while being located in San Antonio properly, Italian-American point guard Mike D'Antoni, would end up being named one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors in 2008 after leaving the Spurs once they entered the NBA by helping the Italian team he ended up playing for, the Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, to many different Italian and European championships throughout the rest of his European playing career before retiring from play by 1990 in order to start his coaching career with them.

Undergraduate Draft

The "Undergraduate Draft" is considered a continuation of the "Senior Draft" that was done earlier that same day, hence the numbering of the rounds and draft picks here.

Supplemental Draft

None of the twelve players selected in the "Supplemental Draft" would ever play for the Spurs once the team officially changed their team name from the Gunslingers to the Spurs following this draft's conclusion in May, though the San Antonio franchise would see the most number of players gain successful play either in the ABA or NBA not long afterward. While their first pick in that draft, Craig Littlepage, would be like every other first round pick in this particular draft and not play professionally either in the ABA or NBA, Littlepage would see himself be a head coach for college basketball teams for the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University before becoming an athletic director for the University of Virginia. Then, with their second pick in that draft, John Coughran, he would eventually play for a season in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors long after the NBA-ABA merger came and went after previously playing for a YMCA team and some overseas professional basketball teams before that point. Finally, after many different duds, the last player selected to see some sort of success as a professional basketball player, ninth round pick Billy Harris, would end up playing one season for the San Diego Conquistadors after not playing for either the Spurs or the Chicago Bulls during his draft year.

Roster

• Tom Nissalke

Regular season

Schedule

Season standings

ABA Playoffs

Western Division semifinals

References

• Spurs on Basketball Reference

References

1. [http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/sanantonio/spurs.html San Antonio Spurs (1973–Present)]
2. Hollander, Zander. (1981). "Special NBA 35th Anniversary Edition: The NBA's Official Encyclopedia of Pro Basketball". NAL Books/The New American Library, Inc..
3. "1972 ABA Draft on Basketballreference.com".
4. [https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/SAA/1974_games.html 1973–74 San Antonio Games – Basketball-Reference.com]
5. "1972-73 ABA Season Summary".
6. "Remember the ABA: 1973-74 Regular Season Standings and Playoff Results".