1995 NBA draft

Draft

Notable undrafted players

The following players went undrafted in the 1995 NBA Draft, but later played at least one game in the NBA.

Trades involving Draft picks

Draft-day trades

The following trades involving drafted players were made on the day of the draft.

• The Los Angeles Clippers traded Randy Woods and the draft rights of Antonio McDyess to the Denver Nuggets for Rodney Rogers and the draft rights to Brent Barry.

Early entrants

College underclassmen

For the first time since 1982, the NBA would officially see college underclassmen players withdraw their entry into the NBA draft. Originally, nineteen underclassmen (including one player that was playing overseas at the time and one high schooler) had declared their entry for this year's draft, but the Lithuanian born Zydrunas Ilgauskas from Lithuania's Atletas Kaunas alongside Rodrick Rhodes from the University of Kentucky and John Wallace from the University of Syracuse would all officially withdraw their names from this year's draft before it began, which left only fifteen total underclassmen directly from college. However, this year would also be the first time since 1975 where high schoolers would be declared as eligible underclassmen for the NBA. As such, the official underclassmen count would increase from fifteen to sixteen total players with the inclusion of Farragut Academy standout phenom power forward Kevin Garnett, which started an eleven-year long trend of high school players declaring their eligibility for the NBA. Even so, the following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.

• USA Cory Alexander – G, Virginia (junior)
• USA Mario Bennett – F, Arizona State (junior)
• USA Chris Carr – G/F, Southern Illinois (junior)
• USA Michael Evans – Norfolk State (junior)
• USA Rashard Griffith – C, Wisconsin (sophomore)
• USA Martin Lewis – Seward CC (sophomore)
• USA Antonio McDyess – F, Alabama (sophomore)
• USA Joe Smith – F, Maryland (sophomore)
• USA Jerry Stackhouse – G, North Carolina (sophomore)
• USA Scotty Thurman – F, Arkansas (junior)
• USA Gary Trent – F, Ohio (junior)
• USA David Vaughn III – F, Memphis (junior)
• USA Rasheed Wallace – F, North Carolina (sophomore)
• USA Corliss Williamson – F, Arkansas (junior)
• USA Darroll Wright – G, Missouri Western (junior)

High school players

This year marked the first year since 1975 where high school players would be allowed entry into the NBA directly from high school. However, only one player during this year would go and take that route for this year. The following high school player successfully applied for early draft entrance.

• USA Kevin Garnett – F, Farragut Academy (Chicago, Illinois)

Invited attendees

The 1995 NBA draft is considered to be the eighteenth 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 somewhere within the SkyDome in Toronto, Canada), 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. 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 David Stern, the NBA's newest commissioner at the time. 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 17 prospects at the time. Despite the high number of invites, the only notable absence for this year's draft was Theo Ratliff from the University of Wyoming. Even so, the following players were invited to attend this year's draft festivities live and in person.

• USA Michael Finley – SG/SF, Wisconsin
• USA Sherell Ford – SF/PF, UIC
• USA Kevin Garnett – PF, Farragut Academy (Chicago, Illinois)
• USA Alan Henderson – PF, Indiana
• USA Antonio McDyess – PF, Alabama
• USA Ed O'Bannon – SF, UCLA
• USA Cherokee Parks – C, Duke
• USA Bryant Reeves – C, Oklahoma State
• USA Shawn Respert – SG, Michigan State
• USA Joe Smith – PF, Maryland
• USA Jerry Stackhouse – SG/SF, North Carolina
• USA Damon Stoudamire – PG, Arizona
• USA Bob Sura – SG, Florida State
• USA Kurt Thomas – PF/C, Texas Christian
• USA Gary Trent – PF, Ohio
• USA Rasheed Wallace – PF/C, North Carolina
• USA Corliss Williamson – PF, Arkansas

References

References

1. "NBA Draft Busts – Joe Smith".
2. Millea, John. (2000). "Lonewolf". The Sporting News.
3. "CNNSI.com: Say It Ain't So – Vancouver Grizzlies".
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20050627012703/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/2005/06/24/gallery.nbabusts/content.2.html NBA Draft busts], [[Sports Illustrated]]
5. Snyder, Kirk. "The NBA's Biggest Draft Busts of the Last 20 Years".
6. "Shawn Respert's NBA career was stunted by cancer".
7. (August 4, 2007). "1995 Underclassmen".
8. "1995 Green Room Invites - the Draft Review".
9. Maurer, Matthew. (2024-02-18). "Draft Broadcasts - The Draft Review".
10. "Green Room - The Draft Review".