The Free Agent Draft offers all teams the opportunity to select players from a pool consisting of the following:
| Date | Event | Notes |
| Conclusion of Prior Year's Free Agent Draft | Teams receive their draft picks for the next Free Agent Draft | Each team receives 5 draft picks, one for each round |
| Until date for exposing players (see below) | Draft picks may be traded (see note below) | Draft picks are designated by the letters "DC" followed by the number of the round followed by the team initials of the original owner (such as DC3ET) |
| Shortly after conclusion of ABA regular season | Lottery is conducted to determine selection order for first 6 picks of Round 1 of Draft | The 6 teams with the fewest wins are eligible for the lottery. The team with the fewest wins gets 6 entries in the lottery, the next fewest gets 5 entries, etc. The first team selected in the lottery gets the first pick of Round 1, the next team selected gets the next pick, etc., until each of the 6 teams has been awarded one of the first 6 picks of Round 1. |
| As soon as lottery is concluded | Selection order for draft is announced | Order for each round (other than the first 6 picks of Round 1) is determined by ascending order of wins (fewest wins goes first). If 2 teams have the same number of wins, a dice roll determines which team picks first in odd-numbered rounds (the loser of the dice roll picks first in even-numbered rounds). |
| 13 days prior to the Free Agent Draft (Sunday at midnight) | Teams identify players to be exposed to the Free Agent Draft | Each team is permitted to protect 25 players from the Free Agent Draft. All additional players must be exposed. |
| About 1-2 weeks prior to the Free Agent Draft | Complete list of Free Agents is published | Managers plan draft strategy |
| No later than 24 hours prior to the Free Agent Draft | Absentee Managers must supply drafting instructions for their team | If a manager will not have access to the ABA Web Site during the time of the draft, he must supply drafting instructions for his team either to the commissioner (via a list) or to another manager who will then draft for him. |
| Saturday of the ABA Convention (2PM Eastern Time) | Free Agent Draft | Selections are made from the Free Agent pool for each pick in
each of the 5 rounds. All picks must be made via the Free Agent
Draft screen on the ABA Web Site (accessible from the To-Do List
during the time of the Draft). Note that there is a 3-minute time limit for each manager to record his selection. If the 3 minutes expires without a selection being made, the commissioner records a 'SKIP' for that draft pick and the next pick may be made. The manager whose pick was skipped may still make that pick (selecting the pick from the list of Skipped Picks at the top of the Draft Screen) but any players who were selected after the SKIP was recorded will no longer be available. |
Note: Draft picks may still be traded after the deadline date (even during the Free Agent Draft). However, for administrative purposes, these trades will be recorded after the Draft with the players actually selected substituted for the draft picks in the trades.
There is a fee charged for each draft pick. The amount of the fee depends on the type of Free Agent and the round of the selection (see Fee Schedule below). If the Free Agent selected is an exposed player, the team that exposed that player receives the fee. Note that fees are charged to the "owner of record" for the pick as of 13 days prior to the Draft. If a team trades a pick after that date (see note above), it still must pay the fee for that pick. If a team does not have enough money to pay for a pick, the fee will be deducted from the team's new season's money allotment (which is received right after the Draft).
| Fee Schedule | Exposed Player | Other Free Agent |
| Round 1 | $25,000 | $10,000 |
| Round 2 | $20,000 | $10,000 |
| Round 3 | $15,000 | $10,000 |
| Round 4-5 | $10,000 | $10,000 |
At the conclusion of the Draft, all exposed players who are not selected are returned to their original teams. All other unselected Free Agents join the Waiver List for the upcoming season.