- Source: 1997 NBA draft
The 1997 NBA draft took place on June 25, 1997, at Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Vancouver Grizzlies had the highest probability to win the NBA draft lottery, but since they were an expansion team along with the Toronto Raptors they were not allowed to select first in this draft. Although the Boston Celtics had the second-worst record in the 1996–97 season and the best odds (36 percent) of winning the lottery with two picks, the Spurs lost David Robinson and Sean Elliott to injury early in the season, finished with the third-worst record, and subsequently won the lottery. Leading up to the draft, there was no doubt that Tim Duncan would be selected at No. 1 by the Spurs as he was considered to be far and away the best prospect. After Duncan, the rest of the draft was regarded with some skepticism. The Celtics had the third and sixth picks, selecting Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer, both of whom were traded in the next two years.
Duncan became the Spurs' franchise player and in a 19-year career spent entirely in San Antonio, he led the Spurs to five NBA championships, winning NBA Finals MVP in three of those campaigns. In addition, Duncan was a two-time NBA MVP, 15-time All-Star, 15-time All-NBA and 15-time All-Defensive team selections. Billups went on to earn five all-star selections and won Finals MVP honors in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons. The ninth pick, Tracy McGrady, captured two NBA scoring titles and was named to seven All-Star and All-NBA teams.
The Washington Wizards forfeited their 1997 first-round pick in connection with the signing of Juwan Howard. (Washington would have had the 17th pick.) Thus, the draft only had 28 first-round selections and 57 selections overall.
Draft selections
Notable undrafted players
These players eligible for the 1997 NBA Draft were not selected but played in the NBA.
Early entrants
= College underclassmen
=This year saw a continued rise of collegiate underclassmen and other players of similar nature declaring entry into the NBA draft. This year initially saw a total of 47 eligible players enter the draft at first, but seven of these players (including Cory Carr from Texas Tech University, former DePaul University player Ronnie Fields from the St. Paul Slam! in the International Basketball Association, the Greek born Dimitrios Papanikolaou of the Olympiacos Piraeus B.C. in Greece, Larell Redic from Utah State University, Dawood Thomas from the California University of Pennsylvania, the Turkish-Yugoslavian born Mirsad Türkcan of the Efes Pilsen in Turkey, and the Argentinian-Spanish born Lucas Victoriano of the Olimpia Venado Tuerto in Argentina) would later decline their entry for this year's draft. Including the likes of high school phenom Tracy McGrady from Mount Zion Christian Academy, the Slovenian born Marko Milič of the Smelt Olimpija in Slovenia, and former Central Connecticut State University player Keith Closs of the Norwich Neptunes from the Atlantic Basketball Association minor league, the number of qualified underclassmen would increase from 37 only in college to 40 total players. Regardless, the following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.
= High school players
=This would be the third year in a row where high school players were allowed entry into the NBA draft after previously only doing it back in 1975. However, only one player would go directly from high school to enter the NBA this year. The following high school player successfully applied for early draft entrance.
Tracy McGrady – G/F, Mount Zion Christian Academy (Durham, North Carolina)
= International players
=This year, only one international born player would officially enter the NBA draft after seeing three other international players initially declare their interest in entering this year's draft. The following international player successfully applied for early draft entrance.
Marko Milič – G/F, Smelt Olimpija (Slovenia)
= Other eligible players
=This year marked the third time in NBA history (the first two times being in 1971 and 1987) that an eligible underclassman player of sorts would declare entry for an NBA draft by playing minor league basketball within the U.S.A. first (as well as have it be the first time that it wouldn't involve the Continental Basketball Association or its previous name in the Eastern Basketball Association). It would also be the fourth time that a player would declare entry while also playing in another American basketball league, with the second case of this occurring in 1973 with David Brent being allowed entry into the NBA draft despite him already playing for the Carolina Cougars of the rivaling American Basketball Association at the time.
See also
List of first overall NBA draft picks
NBA records
References
External links
"Official website". NBA.com. Archived from the original on February 15, 2001. Retrieved June 15, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
1997 NBA Draft at Basketball-reference
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- 1997 NBA draft
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- List of first overall NBA draft picks
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