The Chicago Bulls, who had a 1.7 percent probability of obtaining the first selection, won the NBA draft lottery on May 22.

[5] The Chicago Bulls used the first overall pick to draft Chicago native Derrick Rose from the University of Memphis, who later went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, making him the first player to be drafted first overall and to win Rookie of the Year since LeBron James in 2003, and also became the youngest player to win the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 2011 at age 22.

They are Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Eric Gordon, Brook Lopez, Nicolas Batum and DeAndre Jordan.

However, Gordon was permitted by FIBA on August 7, 2023 to play for The Bahamas instead, starting with the 2024 Olympics Pre-Qualifying Tournament for the Americas.

^ c: Anthony Randolph was born in West Germany to American parents and was raised in the United States.

[11][12] ^ d: Roy Hibbert was born in the United States to a Jamaican father and a Trinidadian mother.

The following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.

The first 14 picks in the draft belonged to teams that had missed the playoffs; the order was determined through a lottery.

As it is commonplace in the event of identical win–loss records, the NBA performed a random drawing to break the ties on April 18, 2008.

The Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves, with the worst and third-worst records, respectively, won the second and third picks.