1972–73 Indiana Pacers season

ABA professional basketball team season March 2026 August 2023 Indiana Pacers ABA 1973 yes 51 33 Eastern 2 Bobby Leonard Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum ABA Champions(Defeated Colonels 4–3) IND WLWI 13 WIBC The 1972–73 Indiana Pacers season was the franchise's sixth season both as a team and in the American Basketball Association. The Pacers entered the season looking to repeat as champions of the ABA, as well as win a record-high third ABA championship in four years after previously winning the ABA Finals in 1970 and 1972. Indiana finished the season by being second place in the Western Division with a 51–31 record, finishing behind only the Utah Stars by four games, before winning their third ABA title in seven games. In a rematch of the 1972 Western Division Semifinals, the Pacers eliminated the Denver Rockets 4–1 this time around after going to seven games with them the last time they met. After defeating the Rockets in five games, the Pacers eliminated the Utah Stars in their 1972 Western Division Finals rematch in six games after previously beating them in seven games last year. The Eastern Division champion Kentucky Colonels appeared in the ABA Championships for the second time in franchise history (with them first appearing in 1971); while the Colonels would fight tooth and nail with the Pacers, Indiana would ultimately prevail in seven games against their nearby rivals in Kentucky, becoming the only ABA team to ever repeat as champions while the ABA existed as a league. This is the last ABA season where the Pacers won the championship, and as of 2025, this is the last season the Pacers won a championship of any kind in either the ABA or NBA, though 2025 was also the closest year they would get to being champions again through the 2025 NBA Finals. Offseason ABA Draft 1972 ABA draft Weirdly enough, as of 2025, there has been no official draft records for the first five rounds of the 1972 ABA draft specifically, while every other round after that point has been properly recorded by basketball historians otherwise. Because of the strange dispersity of draft picks not being properly recorded this year after previously being fully recorded in the previous year's draft and the number of rounds potentially being off for even the players being selected this year, the recorded players selected in this year's draft will be marked with a ? for the pick number in particular (as well as certain round numbers, if necessary) in order to showcase the awkward display currently going on with the 1972 ABA draft year in particular (though what is known is that the Pacers did trade what officially became the #6 pick of the ABA draft this year to the Denver Rockets in a deal involving multiple players at hand after their unofficial #8 pick was made into an official #6 pick after the Memphis Pros and New York Nets had what would have been the official #2 and #6 picks at the time be forfeited by the ABA due to Memphis signing Larry Cannon from Denver sometime after the 1971 ABA draft and the Nets signing Jim Chones, a junior college player that was previously drafted by the Virginia Squires at the time of the previous year's draft before being considered a forfeited drafted pick from the Squires that year, sometime after the 1971 ABA draft as well). However, if any changes come up to where a proper, official recording of the 1972 ABA draft gets released displaying both pick numbers and round numbers for where certain players got selected, please provide the updated (potential) draft ordering with a source confirming the round and pick numbers included here. Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 3(?) 24(?) Oscar Evans G USA United States Butler 5(?) 40(?) Nate Stephens C USA United States Long Beach State 6 50(?) George Adams SF USA United States Gardner–Webb College 7 61(?) Richie Garner SG USA United States Manhattan College 8 72(?) Cavin Anderson G USA United States Valley City State College 9 83(?) Wardell Dyson F USA United States Shaw University 10 94(?) Jolly Spight SF USA United States Santa Clara 11 105(?) Billy Burton G USA United States Eastern Kentucky 12 116(?) Wally Rice G USA United States PMC Colleges 13 127(?) Mel Sims G USA United States Cal State Los Angeles 14 138(?) Nate Williams SF USA United States Utah State The Pacers became the only ABA team to not use the final six rounds of the 1972 ABA draft whatsoever.http://www.databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?yr=1972&lg=A 1972 ABA Draft on Basketballreference.com 2009-05-07 usurped https://web.archive.org/web/20100117183257/http://databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?yr=1972&lg=A 2010-01-17 ABA Dispersal Draft Months after the original ABA draft for this year concluded, the ABA held their first ever dispersal draft on July 13, 1972, after it was found out by the ABA itself that neither "The Floridians" nor the Pittsburgh Condors would be able to continue operations either in their original locations or elsewhere in the U.S.A. (or even Canada in the case of "The Floridians"). Unlike the main draft they did during the months of March and April, this draft would last for only six rounds as a one-day deal and would have the nine remaining inaugural ABA teams selecting players that were left over at the time from both "The Floridians" and Pittsburgh Condors franchises (including draft picks from both teams there) and obtain their player rights from there.https://www.thedraftreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2607:1972-aba-draft 1972 ABA Draft June 6, 2007 The Draft Review Dec 23, 2024 Any players from either franchise that wouldn't be selected during this draft would be placed on waivers and enter free agency afterward.Bradley Robert D. The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts 2013 Scarecrow Press 9780810890695, pg. 426 Interestingly, only 42 total players were selected by the nine remaining ABA teams at the time of the dispersal draft, meaning everyone else that was available from both teams was considered a free agent to the ABA not long afterward. The Pacers would also be the last team to select players from this particular draft since they were back-to-back ABA champions. The following players were either Floridians or Condors players that the Pacers acquired during this dispersal draft. Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College ABA Team 1 13 Dwight Davis PF USA United States Houston The Floridians 2 21 Dwight Jones PF/C USA United States Houston The Floridians 3 30 Tracy Tripucka G USA United States Lafayette The Floridians 4 37 Brian Adrian G USA United States Davidson Pittsburgh Condors Every single selection that the Pacers would acquire in this draft would be either draft picks or be college players that "The Floridians" and Pittsburgh Condors would pick up sometime between April 12, the day the 1972 ABA draft officially concluded, and July 13, which was when the dispersal draft officially happened. Dwight Davis and Tracy Tripucka were both drafted during the 1972 ABA draft by "The Floridians" franchise, with "The Floridians" drafting them both at picks #4 and (supposedly) #102, respectively and Dwight Davis later played in the NBA instead. As for Dwight Jones and Brian Adrian, both players were apparently picked up by "The Floridians" and Pittsburgh Condors respectively sometime after the 1972 ABA draft as undrafted prospects (with Jones being picked up by "The Floridians" despite him being a junior at the time of the draft). Jones notably would have his draft pick rights stay with the Pacers for less than a month before the Pacers made sure the newly created San Diego Conquistadors ABA franchise selected Jones with a second-round pick they had on the team during the ABA's only expansion draft ever done on August 10, with Jones later playing in the NBA following the 1973 ABA draft period and the 1973 NBA draft that Jones was officially selected in as a senior. Roster Indiana Pacers 1972–73 #0032A0 #FEDD00 #FEDD00 #0032A0 22 Bob Arnzen SF 6 5 205 November 3, 1947 Notre Dame 35 Roger Brown basketball, born 1942 SF 6 5 205 May 22, 1942 Dayton 10 Don Buse PG 6 4 190 August 10, 1950 University of Evansville 34 Mel Daniels C 6 9 220 July 20, 1944 New Mexico 13 Donnie Freeman basketball, born 1944 SG 6 3 185 July 18, 1944 Illinois 20 Darnell Hillman PF 6 9 215 August 29, 1949 San Jose State 25 Gus Johnson basketball SF 6 6 230 December 13, 1938 Idaho 11 Billy Keller SG 5 10 177 August 30, 1947 Purdue 14 Freddie Lewis PG 6 0 175 July 1, 1943 Arizona State 30 George McGinnis PF 6 8 235 August 12, 1950 Indiana 24 Bill Newton basketball PF 6 9 220 December 22, 1950 LSU 15 George Peeples C 6 7 190 October 30, 1943 Iowa 12 Craig Raymond C 6 11 235 April 5, 1945 BYU Bobby Leonard https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/INA/1973.html<noinclude> Regular season ABA Schedule Game Date Opponent Result Pacers points Opponents Record 1 2 1972–73 Indiana Pacers Games – Basketball-Reference.com Season standings + 1972–73 ABA Western Standings Western Division W L PCT. GB Utah Stars 55 29 .655 – Indiana Pacers 51 33 .607 4 Denver Rockets 47 37 .560 8 San Diego Conquistadors 30 54 .357 25 Dallas Chaparrals 28 56 .333 27https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/ABA_1973.html 1972-73 ABA Season Summary Player stats Regular season PlayerGPMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPG PPGGeorge McGinnis8240.8.495.250.66512.52.5 27.6Mel Daniels8138.3.482.250 .722 15.42.2 18.5Freddie Lewis7230.8.436.345.8223.24.014.9Darnell Hillman8430.3.446.000.5878.81.59.6Roger Brown7230.2.474.356.8224.82.812.6Donnie Freeman7728.2.442.333.8082.82.514.3Billy Keller8327.1.433.320.8702.54.313.8Don Buse7719.3.453.208.7522.72.95.4Gus Johnson5015.1.441.190.7384.91.26.0George Peeples96.2.286.000.5451.70.41.6Craig Raymond65.5.2500.0.5001.70.20.8Bill Newton244.9.429.500.5002.00.42.4Bob Arnzen234.8.526.000.7501.00.12.0 https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/INA/1973.html 1972-73 Indiana Pacers Roster and Stats ABA Playoffs ABA Western Division Semifinalshttp://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1973Playoffs.html Remember the ABA: 1972-73 Regular Season Standings and Playoff Results 2010-10-03 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20101129165745/http://remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1973Playoffs.html 2010-11-29 Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 March 31 Indiana 114–91 1–0 7,051 2 April 1 Denver 106–93 2–0 7,235 3 April 3 Denver 94–105 2–1 5,335 4 April 5 Denver 97–95 3–1 6,904 5 April 7 Indiana 121–107 4–1 9,816 Pacers win series, 4–1 ABA Western Division Finals Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 12 Utah 107–124 0–1 7,712 2 April 14 Utah 116–110 1–1 12,233 3 April 16 Indiana 118–108 2–19,353 4 April 18 Indiana 103–104 2–210,079 5 April 19 Utah 104–102 3–212,453 6 April 21 Indiana 107–98 4–29,529 Pacers win series, 4–2 ABA Finals Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 28 Kentucky 111–107 (OT) 1–0 12,119 2 April 30 Kentucky 102–114 1–1 13,408 3 May 3 Indiana 88–92 1–2 10,079 4 May 5 Indiana 90–86 2–2 9,498 5 May 8 Kentucky 89–86 3–2 16,779 6 May 10 Indiana 93–109 3–3 10,079 7 May 12 Kentucky 88–81 4–3 16,597 Pacers win championship series, 4–3 Awards, records, and honors George McGinnis, appeared in the 1973 ABA All-Star Game Mel Daniels, appeared in the 1973 ABA All-Star Game References Pacers on Basketball Reference External links RememberTheABA.com 1972–73 regular season and playoff results Indiana Category:American Basketball Association championship seasons Category:Indiana Pacers seasons Indiana Pacers Indiana Pacers