NBA territorial pick
# NBA territorial pick

A territorial pick was a type of special draft choice used in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) draft in 1949 and in the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft after the 1950 season, the year in which the BAA was renamed the NBA. In the draft, NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. Territorial picks were eliminated when the draft system was revamped in 1966.

In the first 20 years of the BAA/NBA, the league was still trying to gain the support of fans who lived in or near the teams' home markets. To achieve this, the league introduced the territorial pick rule to help teams acquire popular players from colleges in their area who would presumably have strong local support. Before the draft, a team could forfeit its first-round draft pick and then select any player from within a 50-mile (80 km) radius of its home arena. As a result of the territorial picks being selected before the draft, these picks were not factored into the overall selection count of the draft; therefore, the first non-territorial pick of the draft was considered the first overall pick.

Of the 23 territorial picks, 12 players have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Tom Heinsohn, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas are the only four territorial picks who won the Rookie of the Year Award. Chamberlain also won the Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season. He went on to win the Most Valuable Player Award three more times in his career. Oscar Robertson is the only other territorial pick who has won the Most Valuable Player Award; he won it in the 1963–64 season. The Philadelphia Warriors had the most territorial picks, having selected seven who attended a total of five colleges. The University of Cincinnati had the most players taken as a territorial pick; three Cincinnati players were selected using this method by the Cincinnati Royals. The 1965 NBA draft, the last draft in which the rule remained in effect, had the most territorial picks in a single draft with three. The 1953 draft also had three territorial picks. No territorial pick was selected in the 1954, 1957 and 1961 drafts.

## Key

| Pos. | G | F | C |
| - | - | - | - |
| Position | Guard | Forward | Center |
| ^ | Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
| * | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game and All-NBA Team |
| $^+$ | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game |

## List of territorial picks

| Year | Player | Pos. | Nationality | Team | College (city) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1949 | Ed Macauley^ | F/C | United States | St. Louis Bombers | Saint Louis University (St. Louis, Missouri) |
| 1949 | Vern Mikkelsen^ | F/C | United States | Minneapolis Lakers | Hamline University (Saint Paul, Minnesota) |
| 1950 | Paul Arizin^ | G/F | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | Villanova University (Philadelphia) |
| 1951 | Whitey Skoog | G | United States | Minneapolis Lakers | University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) |
| 1952 | Bill Mlkvy | F | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | Temple University (Philadelphia) |
| 1953 | Ernie Beck | G/F | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) |
| 1953 | Walter $Dukes^+$ | C | United States | New York Knicks | Seton Hall University (South Orange, New Jersey) |
| 1953 | Larry Hennessy | G | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | Villanova University (Philadelphia) |
| 1955 | Dick Garmaker* | G/F | United States | Minneapolis Lakers | University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) |
| 1955 | Tom Gola^ | G/F | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | La Salle University (Philadelphia) |
| 1956 | Tom Heinsohn^ | F/C | United States | Boston Celtics | College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Massachusetts) |
| 1958 | Guy Rodgers^ | G | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | Temple University (Philadelphia) |
| 1959 | Wilt Chamberlain^ | C | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas) |
| 1959 | Bob Ferry | F/C | United States | St. Louis Hawks | Saint Louis University (St. Louis, Missouri) |
| 1960 | Oscar Robertson^ | G/F | United States | Cincinnati Royals | University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati) |
| 1962 | Dave DeBusschere^ | G/F | United States | Detroit Pistons | University of Detroit (Detroit) |
| 1962 | Jerry Lucas^ | F/C | United States | Cincinnati Royals | Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio) |
| 1963 | Tom Thacker | G/F | United States | Cincinnati Royals | University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati) |
| 1964 | Walt $Hazzard^+$ | G | United States | Los Angeles Lakers | UCLA (Los Angeles) |
| 1964 | George Wilson | C | United States | Cincinnati Royals | University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati) |
| 1965 | Bill Bradley^ | G/F | United States | New York Knicks | Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey) |
| 1965 | Bill Buntin | F/C | United States | Detroit Pistons | University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan) |
| 1965 | Gail Goodrich^ | G | United States | Los Angeles Lakers | UCLA (Los Angeles) |
