It was televised nationally in the U.S. by ESPN, and was live streamed for the first time in NBA draft history by The Vertical.

This was the first time since the lottery system was introduced in 1985 that all NBA teams that missed out on the playoffs remained in the exact spots they were designated, meaning the 10-win/72-loss Philadelphia 76ers received the No.

The draft is conducted under the eligibility rules established in the league's 2011 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its players union.

After this date "early entry" players may attend NBA pre-draft camps and individual team workouts to show off their skills and obtain feedback regarding their draft positions.

[35] At the end of the May 25 deadline, there were 57 players confirming their intentions of returning to school, thus leaving the grand total of underclassmen participating in the NBA draft as 59.

This year, a total of 63 players entered the combine, with the only two alternates that had their invitations be accepted for the event being Jaron Blossomgame and Marcus Lee.

[46] Buddy Hield, the consensus national college player of the year for 2015–16, participated only in off-court events; his graduation ceremony at the University of Oklahoma conflicted with the on-court portion of the combine, and he chose to attend graduation.

[48] During the event, sophomore Kentucky and future Phoenix Suns point guard Tyler Ulis broke combine records by being the lightest player recorded in draft combine history at 149.2 pounds.

[50] The NBA conducts an annual lottery to determine the draft order for the teams did not make the playoffs in the preceding season.

As it is commonplace in the event of identical win–loss records, the NBA performed a random drawing to break the ties on April 15, 2016.

[51] The table below shows each non-playoff team's chances (based on their record at the end of the NBA season) of receiving picks 1–14.

[A] ^ 2: The Denver Nuggets exercised the option to swap first round picks with the New York Knicks.

[56] A record-high 5 different players were added to the green room listing before the beginning of the 2016 NBA draft commenced.