Joe Hamilton (basketball)

Joe "Little Joe" Hamilton (born July 5, 1948) is a retired American basketball player.

Hamilton played high school basketball at Dunbar High School in Lexington, Kentucky. He was an All-American high school basketball player at Dunbar. He played college ball at Christian College of the Southwest, where he was a two-time Junior College All American. He later played college basketball at North Texas State (now the University of North Texas); he was a two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference Player. Hamilton was also selected as an alternate on the 1968 U.S. Olympics Basketball Team.

After college Hamilton, a 5'10" guard, was selected in the ninth round of the 1970 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and was also selected in the 1970 ABA Draft by the Texas Chaparrals. Hamilton opted to sign with the Chaparrals and to play in the American Basketball Association.

Hamilton played during the 1970-71 season with the Texas Chaparrals, scoring 1,318 points in 84 games (15.7 points per game) and was named to the 1971 ABA All-Rookie team. The next two seasons saw Hamilton with the Dallas Chaparrals, and he played during the 1973-74 ABA season with the San Antonio Spurs. For the 1974-75 season Hamilton joined the Kentucky Colonels; he played in only 9 games for Kentucky but was a member of the Colonels team that later won the 1975 ABA Championship, though he did not play in the playoffs. Hamilton then finished out his professional career during the 1975-76 season with the Utah Stars.