1996 NBA draft

Key

Draft selections

Notable undrafted players

The following are undrafted players of the 1996 NBA Draft but later played in the NBA.

Early entrants

College underclassmen

This year would officially see a steep climb up of the number of underclassmen declaring their entry into the NBA. While previous years starting in 1971 would see a relatively small amount of college underclassmen alongside overseas and even high school players not only officially declare their entry to the draft, but also sticking with it, this year saw an official total of 42 different players that qualified as underclassmen see an initial entry into the NBA draft. However, six of these players (those being the Nigerian born Sunday Adebayo from the University of Arkansas, Carlos Knox from IUPUI, Terquin Mott from Coppin State University, Mark Sanford from the University of Washington, Jess Settles from the University of Iowa, and Kebu Stewart from Cal State Bakersfield) would ultimately withdraw their initial entry into this year's NBA draft, leaving 29 players that declared for the NBA draft as proper college underclassmen, three high school players (including Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal) entering the NBA draft as high school seniors, three proper international players (including the first two teammates from the same team) entering directly from overseas play, and one player named Priest Lauderdale previously leaving Central State University to play for the Peristeri B.C. in Greece for a grand total of 36 players that would qualify as underclassmen. That being said, the following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.

• USA Shareef Abdur-Rahim – F, California (freshman)
• USA Ray Allen – G, Connecticut (junior)
• USA Marcus Camby – C, Massachusetts (junior)
• USA Erick Dampier – C, Mississippi State (junior)
• USA Randy Edney – C, Mount St. Mary's (junior)
• USA Eric Gingold – C, Williams (junior)
• USA LeMarcus Golden – G, Memphis (junior)
• USA Ronnie Henderson – G, LSU (junior)
• USA Allen Iverson – G, Georgetown (sophomore)
• USA Willie Jackson – F, Lawson CC (freshman)
• USA Dontae' Jones – F, Mississippi State (junior)
• USA Chris Kingsbury – G, Iowa (junior)
• USA Idris Lee – G, Mount Senario (junior)
• USA Randy Livingston – G, LSU (sophomore)
• USA Michael Lloyd – G, Auburn Montgomery (junior)
• USA Stephon Marbury – G, Georgia Tech (freshman)
• CUB Richard Matienzo – F, Miami Dade (freshman)
• SUD Dut Mayar Madut – C, Frank Phillips (freshman)
• USA Jeff McInnis – G, North Carolina (junior)
• USA Chris Nurse – F, Delaware State (junior)
• USA Jason Osborne – F, Louisville (junior)
• USA Jessie Pate – G, Arkansas (junior)
• UKR Vitaly Potapenko – F/C, Wright State (junior)
• USA Darnell Robinson – F/C, Arkansas (junior)
• USA Greg Simpson – G, West Virginia (junior)
• USA Kevin Simpson – G, Dixie (sophomore)
• USA Antoine Walker – F, Kentucky (sophomore)
• USA Samaki Walker – F, Louisville (sophomore)
• USA Lorenzen Wright – F, Memphis (sophomore)

High school players

This year marked the second year in a row where high school players would be allowed entry into the NBA directly from high school after previously not allowing high schoolers to enter the NBA draft directly since 1975. The following high school players successfully applied for early draft entrance.

• USA Kobe Bryant – G, Lower Merion HS (Lower Merion, Pennsylvania)
• USA Taj McDavid – G, Palmetto HS (Williamston, South Carolina)
• USA Jermaine O'Neal – F, Eau Claire HS (Columbia, South Carolina)

International players

This year marked the first time that international teammates would declare their entry into the NBA draft simultaneously. The following international players successfully applied for early draft entrance.

• LIT Zydrunas Ilgauskas – C, Atletas Kaunas (Lithuania)
• GRE Efthimios Rentzias – F/C, P.A.O.K. B.C. (Greece)
• FRY Peja Stojaković – F, P.A.O.K. B.C. (Greece)

Other eligible players

Invited attendees

The 1996 NBA draft is considered to be the nineteenth 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 Continental Airlines Arena), 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 and successful draft prospects involved for this year's draft, there would still be some notable absences to not be invited for this year's draft in Shareef Abdur-Rahim from the University of California, Jermaine O'Neal from Eau Claire High School in South Carolina, and arguably Ben Wallace from Virginia Union University. With that in mind, the following players were invited to attend this year's draft festivities live and in person.

• USA Ray Allen – SG, Connecticut
• USA Kobe Bryant – SG, Lower Merion High School (Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania)
• USA Marcus Camby – C, Massachusetts
• USA Erick Dampier – C, Mississippi State
• USA Todd Fuller – C, North Carolina State
• LIT Žydrūnas Ilgauskas – C, Atletas Kaunas (Lithuania)
• USA Allen Iverson – PG, Georgetown
• USA Kerry Kittles – SG, Villanova
• USA Stephon Marbury – PG, Georgia Tech
• USA Walter McCarty – SF/PF, Kentucky
• CAN/RSA Steve Nash – PG, Santa Clara
• UKR Vitaly Potapenko – C, Wright State
• USA Roy Rogers – PF, Alabama
• FRY/CRO Predrag "Peja" Stojaković – SF, P.A.O.K. B.C. (Greece)
• USA Antoine Walker – SF/PF, Kentucky
• USA Samaki Walker – PF/C, Louisville
• USA John Wallace – SF, Syracuse
• USA Jerome Williams – PF, Georgetown
• USA Lorenzen Wright – C, Memphis

References

References

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5. May, Peter. (June 22, 1996). "Montross shipped to Dallas for the No. 6 pick". The Boston Globe.
6. Boeck, Greg. (June 14, 1996). "Nuggets begin overhaul, make two trades". USA Today.
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9. Hughes, Frank. (September 28, 1995). "Bullets on the Mark with Price ; Club trades No. 1 pick to Cavs; Wallace signs". The Washington Times.
10. Macenka, Joe. (July 1, 1996). "Divac Agrees to Charlotte Trade".
11. Nielsen, David. (November 4, 1995). "Heat get Mourning from the Hornets". The Washington Times.
12. Adler, Alan L.. (October 2, 1993). "Sports News".
13. Daniels, Graig. (February 9, 1996). "Spurs put boots to deal". [[Financial Post]].
14. (November 8, 1994). "Atlanta trades Willis to Heat". Financial Post.
15. (September 2, 1995). "Knicks, Heat arrange deal in Riley case". Toronto Star.
16. Harris, Bill. (June 20, 1996). "Grizzlies Deal For Another First-round Pick". The Toronto Sun.
17. Jackson, Barry. (June 27, 1996). "Riley Finds New Forward in Estonia". [[The Miami Herald]].
18. (June 25, 1996). "Hawks Regain First-Round Draft Pick in Sonics Trade".
19. The Chicago Bulls renounced the draft rights to [[Travis Knight (basketball). Travis Knight]] on July 12, 1996.
20. (February 23, 1996). "Raptors swing deal with Philly". [[Financial Post]].
21. Cour, Jim. (June 30, 1994). "The Associated Press report".
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27. (February 22, 1996). "Gattison, Turner Swapped".
28. Vogel represented Lebanon in international competitions later in his career.
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31. Nordgaard would later represent Poland in international competitions.
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38. (August 4, 2007). "1996 Underclassmen".
39. (June 3, 2007). "Priest Lauderdale".
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41. Maurer, Matthew. (2024-02-18). "Draft Broadcasts - The Draft Review".
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