The 53–29 Boston Celtics, who were also the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference and reached the Eastern Conference Finals at the time of the NBA draft lottery, won the #1 pick with pick swapping rights thanks to a previous trade with the Brooklyn Nets, who had the worst record the previous season.

The Celtics intended to draft Duke University player Jayson Tatum with their pick, and correctly believed they would get him at 3rd as well, a decision which ended up being the best one as Tatum developed into an MVP candidate and led the Celtics to their 18th championship in 2024.

It was the third time, and the second in a row, that three players were selected from Serbian team KK Mega Basket in the same draft (Vlatko Čančar, Ognjen Jaramaz, Alpha Kaba), with it previously occurring during the 2014 and 2016 NBA draft.

The draft was conducted under the eligibility rules established in the league's 2017 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its players' union.

The CBA that ended the 2011 lockout instituted no immediate changes to the draft, but called for a committee of owners and players to discuss future changes.

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

[64][65] Additionally, two more players left entry at the end of the international player deadline, meaning both Maverick Rowan from North Carolina State and Darin Johnson from Cal State Northridge would not return for college, but one player managed to enter the college underclassman deadline, thus leaving 63 entries at hand for the NBA Draft.

At the end of the May 24 college deadline, eight players who originally declared for the NBA Draft and were invited to the Draft Combine this year, including potential "none-and-done" Kentucky freshman redshirt Hamidou Diallo, ultimately returned to college for at least one more season.

^ 1: The Boston Celtics exercised the option to swap first-round picks with the 20–62 Brooklyn Nets on April 3, 2017.

[B] ^ 2: The Philadelphia 76ers exercised the option to swap first-round picks with the Sacramento Kings after the names of the top three teams were revealed.

[B] ^ 3: The New Orleans Pelicans' first round pick was conveyed to the Sacramento Kings because it fell outside of the top three.