Some players have chosen to use that year to play professionally overseas for example, such as Brandon Jennings (Italy), Emmanuel Mudiay (China), and Terrance Ferguson (Australia).
Restrictions exist on players signing with sports agents and on declaring for, then withdrawing from, drafts—although most of them are enforced by the NCAA rather than the NBA.
Not many high school players went directly to the NBA draft for almost 20 years after Darryl Dawkins in 1975 because of the exposure of the college games.
[6] From 1956 through 1965, teams could use a territorial pick in which they forfeited their first-round selection in order to choose a player from their immediate area.
[7] From 2009 through 2015, the college underclassmen had until the day before the April signing period to withdraw their name from the draft and retain NCAA eligibility.
The league was attempting to counter accusations that certain teams were purposefully losing in order to gain a chance to participate in the annual coin flip, where the worst team in each division (each conference starting in 1971) flipped a coin to see who will receive the first pick in that year's upcoming draft.
"The actual Lottery procedure will take place in a separate room just prior to the national broadcast on ESPN.
Select media members, NBA officials and representatives of the participating teams and the accounting firm of Ernst & Young will be in attendance for the drawing.
"[11] Attendees are not allowed cell phone or any other electronic access until the number one pick is revealed on the television broadcast.
From 1995 to 2005, NBA teams drafted a slew of just-graduated high school standouts like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Tracy McGrady and Amar'e Stoudemire.
The first foreign player, in the sense of being a national of a country other than the U.S., to be chosen first overall in the draft was Bahamian Mychal Thompson in 1978.
However, Thompson's selection was not a true harbinger of the game's globalization, as he had spent much of his childhood in Florida, and had played college basketball at Minnesota.
One of the first foreign players selected in the draft to play in the NBA was Manute Bol out of the Sudan in 1983 in the 5th round by the San Diego Clippers.
Two years later Bol was drafted again by the NBA this time out of Division II University of Bridgeport in 1985 as the 31st pick overall in the second round.
The following two years saw two players born outside the U.S. selected first overall—Nigerian Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984 (he would later gain U.S. citizenship) and Jamaica-born American Patrick Ewing in 1985.
The 1998 draft saw another foreign player picked first overall, Nigerian Michael Olowokandi, but like Duncan he had played college basketball, in his case at Pacific.
Hannah Beech (2003) wrote "Yao has single-handedly transformed his countrymen from nameless, faceless millions into mighty men who can jam with the very best".
Beech (2003) goes on to write "Ratings for NBA games broadcast on Chinese TV have never been higher than this year as the nation keeps track of its new favorite team, Yao's Houston Rockets".
The next year, the Toronto Raptors drafted Andrea Bargnani from Italy, making him the second foreign player without U.S. college experience and the first European to be selected number 1 overall.
In 2011, Australian born Kyrie Irving was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers after having played one year at Duke.
During the 2015 NBA draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected U.S.-born center Karl-Anthony Towns, also born with Dominican Republic citizenship by way of his mother, as the first player from the latter country and therefore the first Latin American to become the No.
The 2003 NBA draft was noted for bringing several future superstars into the league, such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh.
[16][17] On the other hand, the draft of 2000 has been regarded as the worst in NBA history, with Sports Illustrated calling its first round "a horrible group of players".
[18] The 2013 draft has also been called underwhelming, although Victor Oladipo and Rudy Gobert eventually became All-Stars, and Giannis Antetokounmpo later became a two time NBA MVP.