1977 NBA draft

The 1977 NBA draft was the 31st annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 10, 1977, before the 1977–78 season. In this draft, 22 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 Milwaukee Bucks won the coin flip and were awarded the first overall pick, while the Kansas City Kings, who obtained the New York Nets first-round pick in a trade, 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. 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, six college underclassmen were declared eligible for selection under the "hardship" rule. 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.

Four former American Basketball Association (ABA) franchises who joined the NBA when both leagues merged, the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers, the New York Nets and the San Antonio Spurs, took part in the NBA Draft for the first time. Prior to the start of the season, the Nets relocated to New Jersey and became the New Jersey Nets, meaning this was the only NBA draft where the Nets would participate in said draft under the New York Nets name. The draft consisted of 8 rounds comprising the selection of 170 players.

Draft selections and draftee career notes Kent Benson from Indiana University was selected first overall by the Milwaukee Bucks. Walter Davis from the University of North Carolina, who went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award in his first season, was selected fifth by the Phoenix Suns. Davis was also selected to both the All-NBA Team and the All-Star Game in his first season. He collected a total of six All-NBA Team selections and two All-Star Game selections. Three other players from this draft, second pick Otis Birdsong, third pick Marques Johnson and seventh pick Bernard King, were also selected to both the All-NBA Team and the All-Star Game. Birdsong was selected to four All-NBA Teams and one All-Star Game; Johnson was selected to five All-NBA Teams and three All-Star Games; and King was selected to four All-NBA Teams and four All-Star Games. Jack Sikma, the eighth pick, won the NBA championship with the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979 and was selected to seven consecutive All-Star Games. Rickey Green, the 16th pick, Norm Nixon, the 22nd pick, and Eddie Johnson, the 49th pick, are the only other players from this draft who were selected to an All-Star Game. Two players drafted went on to have coaching careers in the NBA: 33rd pick Eddie Jordan and 53rd pick John Kuester. Jordan has coached three teams in nine seasons, including five seasons with the Washington Wizards.

In the seventh round, the New Orleans Jazz selected Lusia Harris, a female college basketball star from Delta State University, with the 137th pick. She became the second woman ever drafted by an NBA team, after Denise Long, who was selected by the San Francisco Warriors in the 1969 draft. However, the league voided the Warriors' selection, thus Harris became the first and only woman to ever be officially drafted. Harris did not express an interest to play in the NBA and declined to try out for the Jazz. It was later revealed that she was pregnant at the time, which made her unable to attend the Jazz's training camp, even if she had wanted to. She never played in the NBA but she later played briefly in the Women's Professional Basketball League. In 1992, she was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame and became the first woman ever inducted to the Hall of Fame. She was also part of the inaugural class of inductees of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.

Also in the seventh round, the Kansas City Kings selected track and field athlete Bruce Jenner, now Caitlyn Jenner, with the 139th pick (needling the cross-town Kansas City Chiefs, who would often claim to select the "best athlete available" in the NFL draft). Jenner had just won the gold medal for decathlon at the 1976 Olympic Games, but had not actually played basketball since high school. Jenner was presented with a Kings jersey bearing the number 8618 (her Olympics decathlon score), but she never appeared in a game. (The closest Jenner would come to a basketball career was a few years later in the film Can't Stop The Music, in a sequence where she shot hoops with her co-stars The Village People). Jenner would later make headlines in 2015 for coming out as a trans woman, which retroactively made her the first transgender person to be drafted (though not play) in one of the Big Four leagues in the United States of America.

Key Pos.GFCPositionGuardForwardCenter

Draft

Round Pick Player Pos. Nationality Team School/club team11 C Milwaukee Bucks Indiana 12 * G Kansas City Kings Houston 13 * G/F Milwaukee Bucks UCLA 14 F Washington Bullets Oregon 15 ^~ G/F Phoenix Suns North Carolina 16 F Los Angeles Lakers NC State 17 ^ F New York Nets Tennessee 18 ^ F/C Seattle SuperSonics Illinois Wesleyan 19 F/C Denver Nuggets North Carolina 110 G New York Knicks Minnesota 111 G/F Milwaukee Bucks Tennessee 112 F Boston Celtics UNC Charlotte 113 G Chicago Bulls Duke 114 C Atlanta Hawks Clemson 115 G Los Angeles Lakers Maryland 116 + G Golden State Warriors Michigan 117 F Washington Bullets Marquette 118 F Golden State Warriors Louisville 119 G Portland Trail Blazers Hofstra 120 F Philadelphia 76ers Seton Hall 121 G/F Denver Nuggets Oral Roberts 122 + G Los Angeles Lakers Duquesne 223 G Chicago Bulls Southern Illinois 224 G Buffalo Braves Kentucky 225 F/C Philadelphia 76ers Old Dominion 226 G/F New York Knicks UNLV 227 # G Milwaukee Bucks St. John's 228 F Portland Trail Blazers Missouri 229 F Indiana Pacers Texas Southern 230 F Chicago Bulls Maryland 231 F Kansas City Kings UNLV 232 F New York Knicks Notre Dame 233 G Cleveland Cavaliers Rutgers 234 F Houston Rockets UNLV 235 F/C Chicago Bulls Arizona State 236 F/C Detroit Pistons Central Michigan 237 F/C San Antonio Spurs Illinois State 238 # F Golden State Warriors Alabama-Huntsville 239 G Washington Bullets Millersville 240 G/F Houston Rockets St. Mary's (Texas) 241 G/F Portland Trail Blazers Alabama 242 F/C Philadelphia 76ers Arizona 243 # F Philadelphia 76ers Arizona 244 F New Orleans St. Bonaventure 345 # F Kansas City Kings Notre Dame 346 F/C Los Angeles Lakers Washington 347 # G Milwaukee Bucks Cincinnati 348 G Atlanta Hawks UNLV 349+ G Atlanta Hawks Auburn 350 # G New Orleans Jazz UConn 351 # F Indiana Pacers Weber State 352 G Seattle SuperSonics Providence 353 G Kansas City Kings North Carolina 354 # F New York Knicks Long Beach State 355 # G Cleveland Cavaliers Michigan 356 # G Boston Celtics Wake Forest 357 # C Washington Bullets Washington State 358 # F Detroit Pistons Hofstra 359 # F San Antonio Spurs Arkansas State 360 G Golden State Warriors San Francisco 361 # F Washington Bullets Wake Forest 362 G Houston Rockets Louisville 363 # C Portland Trail Blazers Alabama 364 # G Philadelphia 76ers Oral Roberts 365 G Denver Nuggets UNLV 366 G Phoenix Suns Stanford 467 # C New York Nets Wichita State 468 # G Buffalo Braves Charlotte 469 C Milwaukee Bucks UNLV 470 # F Atlanta Hawks Gardner–Webb 471 F Phoenix Suns Idaho State 472 G New Orleans Jazz Detroit 473 # G Indiana Pacers Georgia State 474 # F Seattle SuperSonics Alabama State 475 # G Kansas City Kings Texas Southern 476 C New York Knicks Idaho State 477 # G Cleveland Cavaliers West Texas State 478 # C Boston Celtics Tulane 479 # G Chicago Bulls Louisiana Tech 480 # C Detroit Pistons Iowa 481 # G San Antonio Spurs Northern Illinois 482 # F Golden State Warriors Kentucky State 483 # F Washington Bullets Georgia 484 # G Houston Rockets Oregon State 485 # F Portland Trail Blazers USC 486 # G Philadelphia 76ers Utah 487 # G Golden State Warriors Wisconsin–Parkside 488 G Los Angeles Lakers West Virginia 589 # F New York Nets Kentucky State 590 # F Buffalo Braves Niagara 591 # G Philadelphia 76ers DePaul 592 # G Atlanta Hawks Chattanooga 593 # F Phoenix Suns St. John's 594 # F New Orleans Jazz Gonzaga 595 # F Indiana Pacers Prairie View A&M 596 # F Seattle SuperSonics McKendree 597 # G Kansas City Kings Michigan State 598 # G New York Knicks Monmouth 599 # G Cleveland Cavaliers Jackson State 5100 # G Boston Celtics Virginia 5101 # G Chicago Bulls South Carolina 5102 # F Detroit Pistons Missouri 5103 G San Antonio Spurs Missouri 5104 F Golden State Warriors Norfolk State 5105 # G Washington Bullets Purdue 5106 # G Houston Rockets Idaho State 5107 # C Portland Trail Blazers La Salle 5108 # G Philadelphia 76ers Tulsa 5109 # G Denver Nuggets Ole Miss 5110 # F Los Angeles Lakers Michigan 6111 F New York Nets Duke 6112 # F Buffalo Braves Virginia Union 6113 # F Milwaukee Bucks Miami 6114 # F Atlanta Hawks Southwestern Louisiana 6115 G Phoenix Suns Northwestern 6116 # G New Orleans Jazz Chattanooga 6117 C Indiana Pacers Purdue 6118 # G Seattle SuperSonics Seattle 6119 # F Kansas City Kings Providence 6120 # G New York Knicks Milligan 6121 # F Cleveland Cavaliers Eastern Washington 6122 # G Boston Celtics Rutgers–Camden 6123 # F Chicago Bulls BYU 6124 # F Detroit Pistons Kansas 6125 # F San Antonio Spurs North Carolina 6126 # G Golden State Warriors Saint Francis University 6127 # C Washington Bullets Virginia Tech 6128 # F Portland Trail Blazers Pacific 6129 # G Philadelphia 76ers Winston-Salem State 6130 # F Denver Nuggets UMass 6131 # F Los Angeles Lakers Murray State 7132 # C New York Nets Newberry 7133 # G Buffalo Braves Tennessee 7134 # F Milwaukee Bucks Detroit 7135 # G Atlanta Hawks Arizona State 7136 G/F Phoenix Suns Oral Roberts 7137 # C New Orleans Jazz Delta State 7138 # F Seattle SuperSonics Northwestern State 7139 # G Kansas City Kings Graceland 7140 # C New York Knicks St. John's 7141 # F Cleveland Cavaliers Eastern Michigan 7142 # F Boston Celtics Cleveland State 7143 # F Chicago Bulls Evansville 7144 # F Detroit Pistons Johnson C. Smith 7145 # G San Antonio Spurs New Mexico State 7146 # F Golden State Warriors Mercer 7147 # G Washington Bullets American 7148 # F Portland Trail Blazers Oregon State 7149 # G Philadelphia 76ers Omaha 7150 # G Denver Nuggets Alabama State 7151 C Los Angeles Lakers Cinzano Milano 8152 C New York Nets Athletes in Action8153 # G Buffalo Braves Philadelphia Textile 8154 # G Milwaukee Bucks Milwaukee 8155 # F Atlanta Hawks BYU 8156 # F Phoenix Suns UC Riverside 8157 # F New Orleans Jazz Toledo 8158 # F Seattle SuperSonics Evansville 8159 # G New York Knicks Saint Peter's 8160 # F Cleveland Cavaliers Western Michigan 8161 # G Boston Celtics Bowling Green 8162 # G Chicago Bulls Eastern Illinois 8163 # F Detroit Pistons Kenyon 8164 # F San Antonio Spurs Arizona 8165 G Golden State Warriors Manhattan 8166 # F Washington Bullets Towson 8167 # G Portland Trail Blazers Washington State 8168 F Philadelphia 76ers Villanova 8169 # G Denver Nuggets Florida 8170 # G Buffalo Braves Pepperdine

Trades On September 10, 1976, the Kansas City Kings acquired Jim Eakins, Brian Taylor, 1977 and 1978 first-round picks from the New York Nets in exchange for Nate Archibald. The Kings used the pick to draft Otis Birdsong.