1982 NBA draft

Draft

upright|thumb|150px|alt=A man wearing a buttoned shirt stands in front of a vine and smiles.|[[Clark Kellogg]] was selected eighth overall by the [[Indiana Pacers]].

Early entrants

College underclassmen

For the first time since 1978, a player that had previously qualified for entry in the NBA draft as a college underclassman (in this case, a Nigerian born player from Sam Houston State University named Yommy Sangodeyi) would later withdraw his entry into the draft pool. He would become the only underclassman player to officially withdraw his name from an NBA draft during the 1980s decade, though he would return in another draft a couple of years later. The following twelve college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance otherwise.

• USA John Bagley – G, Boston College (junior)
• USA Terry Cummings – F, DePaul (junior)
• USA Quintin Dailey – G, San Francisco (junior)
• USA Ollie Johnson – F, Washington State (junior)
• USA Clark Kellogg – F, Ohio State (junior)
• USA Cliff Levingston – F, Wichita State (junior)
• USA Michael McDuffen – G, Murray State (junior)
• USA LaSalle Thompson – F/C, Texas (junior)
• USA Dominique Wilkins – F, Georgia (junior)
• USA Rob Williams – G, Houston (junior)
• USA James Worthy – F, North Carolina (junior)
• USA Victor Mitchell – C, Kansas (junior)

Invited attendees

The 1982 NBA draft is considered to be the fifth NBA draft to have utilized what's properly considered the "green room" experience for NBA prospects. The NBA's green room is a staging area where anticipated draftees often sit with their families and representatives, waiting for their names to be called on draft night. Often being positioned either in front of or to the side of the podium (in this case, being positioned in the Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum for the first time the NBA draft used a green room there), once a player heard his name, he would walk to the podium to shake hands and take promotional photos with the NBA commissioner. From there, the players often conducted interviews with various media outlets while backstage. However, once the NBA draft started to air nationally on TV starting with the 1980 NBA draft, the green room evolved from players waiting to hear their name called and then shaking hands with these select players who were often called to the hotel to take promotional pictures with the NBA commissioner a day or two after the draft concluded to having players in real-time waiting to hear their names called up and then shaking hands with Larry O'Brien, the NBA's commissioner. The NBA compiled its list of green room invites through collective voting by the NBA's team presidents and general managers alike, which in this year's case belonged to only what they believed were the top 14 prospects at the time. However, they weirdly did not give an invite to the actual #1 pick of the draft there, James Worthy. Not only that, but Scott Hastings would be the first invited green room player to stay there beyond the first round of the draft. Even so, the following players were invited to attend this year's draft festivities live and in person.

• USA Terry Cummings – PF, DePaul
• USA Quintin Dailey – SG, San Francisco
• USA Keith Edmonson – SG, Purdue
• USA Sleepy Floyd – PG/SG, Georgetown
• USA Bill Garnett – PF, Wyoming
• USA Scott Hastings – PF/C, Arkansas
• USA Clark Kellogg – PF, Ohio State
• USA Fat Lever – PG, Arizona State
• USA Cliff Levingston – PF, Wichita State
• USA Brook Steppe – SG/SF, Georgia Tech
• USA LaSalle Thompson – PF/C, Texas
• USA Trent Tucker – SG, Minnesota
• USA/FRA Dominique Wilkins – SF, Georgia
• USA Rob Williams – PG, Houston

References

;General

;Specific

References

1. Bradley, Robert D.. (2013). "The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts". Scarecrow Press.
2. (August 4, 2007). "1982 Underclassmen".
3. https://www.thedraftreview.com/historical-draft-events/green-room/1982-green-room-invites
4. https://www.thedraftreview.com/sundry/sundry-articles/draft-broadcasts
5. https://www.thedraftreview.com/historical-draft-events/green-room