Professional Career
Groza was drafted in the 1st round of the 1949 NBA Draft by the Indianapolis Olympians. Groza averaged 23.4 points per game in his rookie season and was named NBA Rookie of the Year — a designation not currently sanctioned by the NBA for the 1949-50 season. He averaged 22.5 points per game over two seasons before being implicated along with college teammates Ralph Beard and Dale Barnstable in a point shaving scandal during the 1948-49 season at Kentucky. NBA president Maurice Podoloff banned all of the implicated players from the league for life.
As a result of this ban, Groza became the first player in NBA history to end his career with a season in which he averaged at least 20 points per game (Groza averaged 21.7 PPG during the 1950-51). In NBA history, only three players have had higher scoring averages in their final NBA seasons: Bob Pettit (22.5 PPG in '64-65), Paul Arizin (21.9 PPG in '61-62), and Dražen Petrović (22.3 PPG in '92-93).
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