1996 NBA draft

The draft class also produced three players who have been named to the NBA's all-defensive first team: Bryant, Marcus Camby, and Wallace.

The 76ers selected two future Major League Baseball players, Mark Hendrickson and Ryan Minor, with their second-round picks.

While previous years starting in 1971 would see a relatively small amount of college underclassmen alongside overseas and even high school players not only officially declare their entry to the draft, but stick with it, this year saw an official total of 42 different players that qualified as underclassmen see an initial entry into the NBA draft.

However, six of these players (those being the Nigerian born Sunday Adebayo from the University of Arkansas, Carlos Knox from IUPUI, Terquin Mott from Coppin State University, Mark Sanford from the University of Washington, Jess Settles from the University of Iowa, and Kebu Stewart from Cal State Bakersfield) would ultimately withdraw their initial entry into this year's NBA draft, leaving 29 players that declared for the NBA draft as proper college underclassmen, three high school players (including Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal) entering the NBA draft as high school seniors, three proper international players (including the first two teammates from the same team) entering directly from overseas play, and one player named Priest Lauderdale previously leaving Central State University to play for the Peristeri B.C.

[38] This year marked the first time that international teammates would declare their entry into the NBA draft simultaneously.

Allen Iverson was selected 1st overall by the Philadelphia 76ers .
Marcus Camby was selected 2nd overall by the Toronto Raptors .
Shareef Abdur-Rahim was selected 3rd overall by the Vancouver Grizzlies .
Stephon Marbury was selected 4th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks (traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves ).
Ray Allen was selected 5th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves (traded to the Milwaukee Bucks ).
Antoine Walker was selected 6th overall by the Boston Celtics .
Kobe Bryant was selected 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets (traded to the Los Angeles Lakers ).
Peja Stojaković was selected 14th overall by the Sacramento Kings .
Steve Nash was selected 15th overall by the Phoenix Suns .
Jermaine O'Neal was selected 17th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers .
Žydrūnas Ilgauskas was selected 20th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers .
Ben Wallace , not selected in the draft, had a successful career including 4 All-Star selections, and became the first undrafted NBA player of the modern era to be elected to the Hall of Fame.