NBA teams chose eight players from Alabama high schools and colleges in the first round in the 1970s.
Detroit Pistons center Leon Douglas and San Diego Clippers center Bill Walton tip off an NBA game in Feb. 27, 1980, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich.The NBA will hold its 79th draft on Wednesday and Thursday.
Thirty first-round picks will be made starting at 7 p.m. CDT Wednesday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NBA teams have drafted 49 players from Alabama high schools and colleges in the first round, and AL.com is counting down to the 2025 draft with a decade-by-decade look at the state’s first-rounders, including the 1970s:In the first 25 NBA drafts, two players from Alabama high schools and colleges were chosen in the first round. But in 1972, two more prospects with Alabama basketball roots went in the first round, and by the end of the 1970s, six more had followed. The first-round selections in the 1970s who had played at Alabama high schools and colleges included:The small forward from Hartselle starred at Kansas, where he averaged 25.3 points per game and won the Big Eight Player of the Year Award for the 1971-72 season. A year earlier, the Jayhawks had reached the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. After averaging 6.3 points per game in both of his seasons with Seattle, Stallworth was chosen by the New Orleans Jazz in the NBA expansion draft. The 6-foot-5 forward played three seasons with New Orleans before a back injury from an automobile accident ended his career prematurely. In 313 NBA regular-season games, Stallworth averaged 7.7 points and 2.8 rebounds.Grant led Kentucky State to NAIA tournament championships in 1970, 1971 and 1972 as he scored 4,045 points for the Thorobreds – 378 more than LSU’s Pete Maravich had scored at LSU to set the NCAA scoring record. Grant’s record for the most points in college basketball stood until 1990. “Machine Gun” didn’t do much for the Lakers. But the 6-foot-7 forward averaged 25.2 points for the ABA’s San Diego Conquistadors in the 1974-75 season. In 36 NBA regular-season games, Grant averaged 3.6 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.2 assists. In 165 ABA regular-season games, Grant averaged 16.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists.In four seasons at Southern Illinois, the 6-foot-10 center averaged 19.7 points and 12.9 rebounds per game. Meriweather earned All-Rookie recognition in 1975-76, when he averaged 10.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots in 81 games. But after one season, Houston sent Meriweather to the Atlanta Hawks in a deal that brought the top pick in 1976 NBA Draft to the Rockets, who used it on Maryland guard John Lucas. Meriweather spent 10 seasons in the NBA as a noted shot-blocker, with a high average of 2.2 per game for the New Orleans Jazz in the 1977-78 season. In 670 NBA regular-season games, Meriweather averaged 8.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks.After averaging 18.0 points and 13.0 rebounds in two seasons at South Carolina State, Boswell averaged 16.5 points and 8.7 rebounds in 27 games for South Carolina before departing for the NBA. The 6-foot-9 power forward was a member of an NBA championship team as a rookie and appeared in six NBA seasons. In 366 NBA regular-season games, Boswell averaged 7.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He averaged 17.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game for the Denver Nuggets in the 1979 playoffs. Douglas averaged 20.7 points and 13.1 rebounds per game in 1974-75 for the first Alabama team to reach the NCAA tournament and 20.6 points and 12.4 rebounds per game for the first Crimson Tide squad to post an NCAA tournament victory in 1975-76. That was his springboard to become the first Alabama player drafted in the first round. Douglas provided muscle as a 6-foot-10 center for the Pistons and Kansas City Kings in seven NBA seasons before spending another nine seasons playing overseas. In 456 NBA regular-season games, Douglas averaged 7.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists. The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 20.4 points and 9.6 rebounds across four seasons for Auburn. After scoring at a 24.9-point clip in his senior season for the Tigers, Mitchell became the first player from Auburn chosen in the first round of the NBA Draft. In his second through eighth NBA seasons, Mitchell averaged 22.3 points per game with the Cavs and San Antonio Spurs. In 1981, he scored 14 points in the NBA All-Star Game. In 759 NBA regular-season games, Mitchell averaged 19.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists. After his NBA career, Mitchell played another 11 seasons overseas.After averaging 18.4 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in four seasons for Alabama, “Mule” played four seasons for the Kings and two for the Seattle Supersonics. The 6-foot-6 forward reached career highs with averages of 14.9 points and 9.7 rebounds per game in 1980-81 for Kansas City, then averaged 21.3 points and 9.9 rebounds as the Kings reached the Western Conference Finals. In 438 NBA regular-season games, King averaged 8.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists.The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 14.5 points and 11.3 rebounds for Mississippi State as a senior to get into the first round. In 52 NBA regular-season games, Peck averaged 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds. After his rookie season with the Spurs, Peck went to the Dallas Mavericks in the expansion draft, was then traded to the Phoenix Suns and never played in the NBA again.By the final draft of the 1970s, the first round featured 22 picks. Next week’s first round will have 30 selections. Four other players with Alabama basketball roots went with selections in the 1970s that would be in the first round of the 2025 draft.In 1973, the Chicago Bulls picked Alabama forward Wendell Hudson from Parker High School in Birmingham at No. 30. In 1974, the Atlanta Hawks picked Gardner-Webb forward John Drew from J.F. Shields High School in Beatrice at No. 25. In 1979, the Phoenix Suns picked Nevada guard Johnny High from Jones Valley High School in Birmingham at No. 24. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
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