NBA
1971-72 Season
Champions: Los Angeles Lakers (4-1)
Full 1971-72 playoff bracket →
The 1971-72 NBA season featured 17 teams across 734 recorded games. Los Angeles Lakers posted the league's best record at 69-13. Los Angeles Lakers won the championship, defeating New York Knicks 4-1 in the Finals. Wilt Chamberlain was named Finals MVP; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took the regular-season MVP award.
Final Standings
Western Conference
- Los Angeles Lakers 🏆 69-13 0.841
- Milwaukee Bucks 63-19 0.768
- Chicago Bulls 57-25 0.695
- Golden State Warriors 51-31 0.622
- Phoenix Suns 49-33 0.598
- Seattle SuperSonics 47-35 0.573
- Houston Rockets 34-48 0.415
- Detroit Pistons 26-56 0.317
- Portland Trail Blazers 18-64 0.220
Eastern Conference
- Boston Celtics 56-26 0.683
- New York Knicks 48-34 0.585
- Baltimore Bullets 38-44 0.463
- Atlanta Hawks 36-46 0.439
- Cincinnati Royals 30-52 0.366
- Philadelphia 76ers 30-52 0.366
- Cleveland Cavaliers 23-59 0.280
- Buffalo Braves 22-60 0.268
Season Leaders
Scoring
- 1 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar MIL 34.8 PPG
- 2 Nate Archibald CIN 28.2 PPG
- 3 John Havlicek BOS 27.5 PPG
- 4 Spencer Haywood SEA 26.2 PPG
- 5 Gail Goodrich LAL 25.9 PPG
Rebounding
- 1 Wilt Chamberlain LAL 19.2 RPG
- 2 Wes Unseld BAL 17.6 RPG
- 3 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar MIL 16.6 RPG
- 4 Nate Thurmond GSW 16.1 RPG
- 5 Dave Cowens BOS 15.2 RPG
Assists
- 1 Jerry West LAL 9.7 APG
- 2 Lenny Wilkens SEA 9.6 APG
- 3 Nate Archibald CIN 9.2 APG
- 4 Archie Clark TOT 8.0 APG
- 5 Oscar Robertson MIL 7.7 APG
1971 Draft — Top Picks
- #1 Austin Carr Cleveland Cavaliers
- #2 Sidney Wicks Portland Trail Blazers
- #3 Elmore Smith Buffalo Braves