1968 NBA Draft

The 1968 NBA Draft featured 214 official selections across 21 rounds. San Diego won the coin flip for the first overall selection and chose University of Houston superstar Elvin Hayes. Baltimore followed with Louisville's Wes Unseld at No. 2.

Hayes and Unseld both became members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Bob Kauffman, selected third by Seattle, also became an NBA All-Star. Other notable players included Don Chaney, Stu Lantz, Warren Jabali, Rick Adelman, Ron Boone, Larry Miller, Bob Quick and Mike Lewis.

The draft was the first for the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns, the NBA's two new expansion franchises. Milwaukee selected Charlie Paulk seventh overall, while Phoenix selected Gary Gregor eighth.

Only 50 of the 214 players selected eventually appeared in an NBA regular-season or playoff game, illustrating how different the league's lengthy draft system was from the modern two-round format.

214 selections: Fourteen NBA franchises combined to make 214 official selections over 21 rounds. Only 50 of the selected players eventually appeared in an NBA regular-season or playoff game.

Elvin Hayes: San Diego selected University of Houston star Elvin Hayes first overall. "The Big E" became a 12-time NBA All-Star, won the 1968-69 scoring championship and later helped the Washington Bullets win the 1978 NBA championship.

Wes Unseld: Baltimore selected Louisville center Wes Unseld second overall. Unseld immediately won both the NBA Rookie of the Year and NBA Most Valuable Player awards in 1968-69, becoming only the second rookie in league history to win MVP.

Hall of Fame: Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld became the two Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame players produced by the 1968 draft. They later became teammates with the Washington Bullets and won the 1978 NBA championship together.

Bob Kauffman: Seattle selected Guilford College forward Bob Kauffman third overall. Kauffman later became a three-time NBA All-Star after joining the Buffalo Braves.

Tom Boerwinkle: Chicago selected Tennessee center Tom Boerwinkle fourth overall. He spent his entire 10-season NBA career with the Bulls and became one of the best rebounders and passing centers in early franchise history.

Zaid Abdul-Aziz: Cincinnati selected Iowa State center Don Smith fifth overall. He later changed his name to Zaid Abdul-Aziz and played 10 NBA seasons.

Don Chaney: Boston selected Houston guard Don Chaney 12th overall. Chaney became an important member of Boston's 1969 and 1974 championship teams and later returned to the Celtics for their 1976 championship season.

Warren Jabali: The Knicks selected Wichita State guard Warren Jabali 44th overall. Jabali chose the ABA, where he became the 1969 ABA Rookie of the Year, a four-time ABA All-Star and the 1969 ABA Playoffs MVP.

Larry Miller: Philadelphia selected North Carolina forward Larry Miller 62nd overall. Miller instead became a prominent ABA player and twice scored 67 points in an ABA game, setting the league's single-game scoring record.

Rick Adelman: San Diego selected Loyola guard Rick Adelman 79th overall in the seventh round. Adelman played seven NBA seasons before beginning a long coaching career that eventually included more than 1,000 NBA coaching victories.

Ron Boone: Phoenix selected Idaho State guard Ron Boone 147th overall in the 11th round. Boone chose the ABA and became a four-time ABA All-Star before continuing his career in the NBA.

Milwaukee Bucks: The 1968 draft was Milwaukee's first. The expansion Bucks used the seventh overall selection on Northeastern State forward Charlie Paulk.

Phoenix Suns: Phoenix also participated in its first NBA Draft and selected South Carolina forward Gary Gregor with the eighth overall pick.

Atlanta Hawks: This was the franchise's first draft after relocating from St. Louis to Atlanta. The Hawks selected South Carolina guard Skip Harlicka with their first choice at No. 13.

San Diego Rockets: The Rockets were still located in San Diego and held the first overall selection. The franchise moved to Houston in 1971.

San Francisco Warriors: The Warriors were still known as the San Francisco Warriors in 1968. The franchise adopted the Golden State Warriors name in 1971.

Long draft era: Although officially a 21-round draft, many teams stopped selecting players before the final rounds. By Round 21, Chicago was the only franchise still making a selection, using the final pick on Delaware's Ronald Horton.