Each NBA franchise seeks to add new players through an annual draft. The NBA uses a draft lottery to determine the first three picks of the NBA draft; the 14 teams that did not make the playoffs the previous year are eligible to participate. After the first three picks are decided, the rest of the teams pick in reverse order of their win–loss record.[1][2] To be eligible for the NBA draft, a player in the United States must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft and must be at least one year removed from the graduation of his high school class.[3] From 1967 until the ABA–NBA merger in 1976, the American Basketball Association (ABA) held its own draft.[4]
^This is the team that drafted the player, not their most recent team.
^ abThe NBA had a rule which stated a player was not eligible for the NBA Draft until four years after he graduated high school. Randy Noll was eligible for the NBA Draft as a junior since he transferred from Kentucky. Noll was a junior at Marshall when he was selected with the 88th pick in the 1972 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He chose to return to Marshall for his senior year and was later drafted by the Buffalo Braves with the 72nd pick in the 1973 NBA Draft.
^"Article X, Section 1(b)(i)". 2005 NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. National Basketball Players Association. Archived from the original on 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2009-11-18.