[1][2] However, he missed the entire 2009–10 season due to surgery on his broken left kneecap, which he injured during the pre-season.

The Sacramento Kings drafted Tyreke Evans 4th; he was named 2009–10 NBA Rookie of the Year, after he became the fourth NBA player in history to average at least 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in his rookie season, joining the elite club of Oscar Robertson (1960), Michael Jordan (1984) and LeBron James (2003).

Rubio became the fifth-highest-drafted international player who never played U.S. college basketball to be drafted in the NBA, tied with Nikoloz Tskitishvili (5th in 2002), and behind Yao Ming (1st in 2002), Andrea Bargnani (1st in 2006), Darko Miličić (2nd in 2003) and Pau Gasol (3rd in 2001).

This marked the second time ever that four Tar Heels players were selected in the first two rounds of an NBA draft.

[11] Nine players chosen in the 2009 draft have been on teams that have won an NBA championship: Danny Green, Roddy Beaubois, Stephen Curry, Austin Daye, Jrue Holiday, Jodie Meeks, Patty Mills, Jeff Ayres and Jeff Teague; of those, three have won multiple championships, Green, three times, Curry, four times, and Holiday, two times.

As of 2024, there are still 9 active players from this draft: James Harden, Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan, James Johnson, Jrue Holiday, Taj Gibson, Patty Mills, Garrett Temple and Joe Ingles, though Temple and Ingles went undrafted.

^ a: Nick Calathes was born in the United States, and has dual U.S. and Greek citizenship by birth.

[30] ^ b: Goran Suton, who was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is also a naturalized citizen of the United States since 2006.

[39] U.S. players who were at least one year removed from their high school graduation and have played professional basketball with a team outside the NBA were also automatically eligible.

This second provision affected Chase Budinger, Wayne Ellington, and Ty Lawson, all of whom declared for and withdrew from the 2008 draft.

As is commonplace in the event of identical win–loss records, the NBA performed a random drawing to break the ties on April 17, 2009.