1971 NBA draft

• ^a On October 20, 1970, the Chicago Bulls acquired a second-round pick from the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Shaler Halimon.^[20][21] The Bulls used the pick to draft Willie Sojourner.
• ^{b 1 2} On March 23, 1971, the Portland Trail Blazers acquired 1971 and 1972 second-round picks and a 1971 third-round pick from the San Francisco Warriors in exchange for Jim Barnett.^[22][23] The Blazers used the picks to draft Charlie Yelverton and William Smith.
• ^c On October 22, 1970, the Portland Trail Blazers acquired a second-round pick from the Baltimore Bullets in exchange for Dorie Murrey.^[24] The Blazers used the pick to draft Rick Fisher.
• ^d On May 11, 1970, the Buffalo Braves acquired Bob Kauffman and a second-round pick from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Bailey Howell.^[25][26] The Braves used the pick to draft Spencer Haywood.
• ^e On the draft-day, the Cincinnati Royals acquired a second-round pick from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Flynn Robinson.^[27] The Royals used the pick to draft Joe Bergman.
• ^f On April 23, 1970, the Chicago Bulls acquired Jim Fox and a second-round pick from the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Clem Haskins.^[21][28] The Bulls used the pick to draft Howard Porte.
• ^g On October 16, 1970, the Philadelphia 76ers acquired a second-round pick from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Matt Guokas.^[21][29] The 76ers used the pick to draft Marvin Stewart.
• ^h On February 1, 1971, the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired Gary Freeman and a second-round pick from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for McCoy McLemore.^[30] The Cavaliers used the pick to draft Willie Long.
• ⁱ On September 5, 1969, the Chicago Bulls acquired Bob Kauffman and a third-round pick from the Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for Bob Boozer and Barry Clemens.^[21][31] The Bulls used the pick to draft Clifford Ray.
• ^j On December 9, 1970, the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired a third-round pick from the San Diego Rockets in exchange for Johnny Egan.^[32] The Cavaliers used the pick to draft Jackie Ridgle.
• ^k On September 9, 1969, the Chicago Bulls acquired a third-round pick from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Mike Lynn.^[21][33] The Bulls used the pick to draft Mike Gale.

These players were not selected in the 1971 draft but played at least one game in the NBA.

Player	Pos.	Nationality	School/club team
Vester Marshall	F	United States	Oklahoma (Jr.)

On September 10, 1971, the NBA hosted a supplemental hardship draft for college underclassmen who wish to join the league. Prior to the 1971 Draft, college underclassmen were not eligible to be drafted until their college class graduated. These underclassmen fulfilled the "hardship" criteria and were allowed to enter the draft early. This new rule came as a result of Spencer Haywood winning the court case against the NBA which allowed him to play in the NBA before his college class graduated.^[5][34] The teams selected in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. The team that made a selection must withdraw their equivalent selection in the 1972 draft.^[35] The teams were allowed to not exercise their rights on this hardship draft and thus retained their full selection in the 1972 draft. Seventeen different players had initially entered the hardship draft, but only six players would ultimately commit to entering the NBA's hardship draft that year. The first hardship draft saw North Carolina's Bill Chamberlain, Marquette's Jim Chones, St. John's Mel Davis, Duquesne's Mickey Davis, Villanova's Chris Ford, the second potential high school prospect in Raymond Lewis from Verbum Dei High School, future Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo from Vincennes Community College, another second potential high school prospect in Campy Russell from Pontiac Central High School, Princeton's Brian Taylor, future Hall of Famer Bill Walton from UCLA, and Michigan's Henry Wilmore all initially enter this year's draft by the hardship draft, but later declined their entry for at least another year (It would later be revealed that Mickey Davis would be selected in the rivaling ABA's own "Special Circumstances Draft" that was held the same day as the NBA's own Hardship Draft as the #1 pick there (albeit selected in the second round) by the Denver Rockets, with Davis playing in the ABA during that following season.^[36])

Three teams that were supposed to have the first three selections, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Buffalo Braves and Portland Trail Blazers, declined to exercise their rights. Therefore, the Cincinnati Royals had the first selection, which they used to select Nate Williams from Utah State University. Phil Chenier, a junior guard from the University of California, was selected by the Baltimore Bullets.^[37] He is the only player from the hardship draft who was selected to All-NBA Team and All-Star Game.^[14] Joe Hammond, who had not played high school and college basketball, was selected in the fourth round by the Los Angeles Lakers.^[38] Hammond, who had played for the Allentown Jets in the Eastern Basketball Association (EBA) prior to the draft, had to apply as the "hardship case" because his college class could not graduate until 1972 if he had gone to the college.^[39] From the six players that were available for selection, only Ed Owens from Weber State University was not selected by any NBA team.^[40] The rivaling ABA would also host their own hardship draft later that year called the "Special Circumstances Draft" in response to the NBA's hardship draft, though the ABA would only see three total selections from that specific event, including a repeat selection of Phil Chenier by the Carolina Cougars there.^[41] Chenier would also be drafted by the ABA two other times in 1973 by the Virginia Squires in their senior draft that year and by the New York Nets in 1974 from that league's unique draft involving the NBA's own players at that time despite him playing for the Bullets by then.

Round	Pick	Player	Pos.	Nationality	Team	School/club team
1	1	Nate Williams	G/F	United States	Cincinnati Royals	Utah State (Jr.)
1	2	Tom Payne	C	United States	Atlanta Hawks	Kentucky (So.)
1	3	Cyril Baptiste#	F/C	United States	Golden State Warriors	Creighton (Jr.)
1	4	Phil Chenier*	G	United States	Baltimore Bullets	California (Jr.)
4	5	Joe Hammond#	G	United States	Los Angeles Lakers	Allentown Jets (EBA)

• List of first overall NBA draft picks