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2018 NBA draft
Sport	Basketball
Date(s)	June 21, 2018
Location	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Network(s)	ESPN, Yahoo Sports[1]
League	NBA
First selection	Deandre Ayton, Phoenix Suns
← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 NBA draft was held on June 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. It was televised nationally by ESPN. This draft was the last to use the original weighted lottery system that gave teams near the bottom of the NBA draft better odds at the top three picks of the draft while teams higher up had worse odds in the process; the rule was agreed upon by the NBA on September 28, 2017, but would not be implemented until the 2019 draft.^[2] It was also considered the final year where undrafted college underclassmen were forced to begin their professional careers early; on August 8, 2018, the NCAA announced that players who declared for the NBA draft and were not selected would have the opportunity to return to their school for at least another year.^[3] With the last year of what was, at the time, the most recent lottery system (with the NBA draft lottery being held in Chicago instead of in New York), the Phoenix Suns won the first overall pick on May 15, 2018, with the Sacramento Kings at the second overall pick and the Atlanta Hawks at third overall pick.^[4] The Suns' selection was their first No. 1 overall selection in franchise history. They used the selection on the Bahamian center Deandre Ayton from the nearby University of Arizona.

This draft was also notable for its lack of draft-day trades involving NBA veterans. An average of more than five veterans per year were traded on the day of the last three drafts, but this draft was the first since 2003 in which no such trades were announced.^[5]

Draft selections

Deandre Ayton was selected first overall by the Phoenix Suns.

Marvin Bagley III was selected second by the Sacramento Kings.

Luka Dončić was selected third by the Atlanta Hawks and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.

Jaren Jackson Jr. (in white) was selected fourth by the Memphis Grizzlies.

Trae Young was selected fifth by the Dallas Mavericks and was traded to the Atlanta Hawks.

Mohamed Bamba (right) was selected sixth by the Orlando Magic.

Michael Porter Jr., a top high school recruit, fell all the way down to the fourteenth pick, and was selected by the Denver Nuggets.

Rnd.	Pick	Player	Pos.	Nationality[n 1]	Team	School / club team
1	1	Deandre Ayton	C	Bahamas	Phoenix Suns	Arizona (Fr.)
1	2	Marvin Bagley III	PF	United States	Sacramento Kings	Duke (Fr.)
1	3	Luka Dončić	SG/SF	Slovenia	Atlanta Hawks (traded to Dallas)[a]	Real Madrid (Spain)
1	4	Jaren Jackson Jr.	PF	United States	Memphis Grizzlies	Michigan State (Fr.)
1	5	Trae Young	PG	United States	Dallas Mavericks (traded to Atlanta)[a]	Oklahoma (Fr.)
1	6	Mohamed Bamba	C	United States	Orlando Magic	Texas (Fr.)
1	7	Wendell Carter Jr.	C	United States	Chicago Bulls	Duke (Fr.)
1	8	Collin Sexton	PG	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers (from Brooklyn via Boston)[A]	Alabama (Fr.)
1	9	Kevin Knox	SF	United States	New York Knicks	Kentucky (Fr.)
1	10	Mikal Bridges	SF	United States	Philadelphia 76ers (from L.A. Lakers via Phoenix;[B] traded to Phoenix[b])	Villanova (Jr.)
1	11	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	PG	Canada	Charlotte Hornets (traded to the L.A. Clippers)[c]	Kentucky (Fr.)
1	12	Miles Bridges	SF	United States	Los Angeles Clippers (from Detroit,[C] traded to Charlotte)[c]	Michigan State (So.)
1	13	Jerome Robinson	SG	United States	Los Angeles Clippers	Boston College (Jr.)
1	14	Michael Porter Jr.#	SF	United States	Denver Nuggets	Missouri (Fr.)
1	15	Troy Brown Jr.	SF	United States	Washington Wizards	Oregon (Fr.)
1	16	Zhaire Smith#	SG	United States	Phoenix Suns (from Miami;[D] traded to Philadelphia[b])	Texas Tech (Fr.)
1	17	Donte DiVincenzo	SG	United States	Milwaukee Bucks	Villanova (So.)
1	18	Lonnie Walker	SG	United States	San Antonio Spurs	Miami (Fr.)
1	19	Kevin Huerter	SG	United States	Atlanta Hawks (from Minnesota)[E]	Maryland (So.)
1	20	Josh Okogie	SG	United States  Nigeria[n 2]	Minnesota Timberwolves (from Oklahoma City via Utah)[F]	Georgia Tech (So.)
1	21	Grayson Allen	SG	United States	Utah Jazz	Duke (Sr.)
1	22	Chandler Hutchison	SF/SG	United States	Chicago Bulls (from New Orleans)[G]	Boise State (Sr.)
1	23	Aaron Holiday	PG	United States	Indiana Pacers	UCLA (Jr.)
1	24	Anfernee Simons	SG	United States	Portland Trail Blazers	IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida; HSPg.)
1	25	Moritz Wagner	PF	Germany	Los Angeles Lakers (from Cleveland via Portland and Cleveland)[H]	Michigan (Jr.)
1	26	Landry Shamet	PG	United States	Philadelphia 76ers	Wichita State (So.)
1	27	Robert Williams	PF/C	United States	Boston Celtics	Texas A&M (So.)
1	28	Jacob Evans	SG	United States	Golden State Warriors	Cincinnati (Jr.)
1	29	Džanan Musa	SF	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Brooklyn Nets (from Toronto)[I]	Cedevita Zagreb (Croatia)
1	30	Omari Spellman	PF	United States	Atlanta Hawks (from Houston via L.A. Clippers)[J]	Villanova (Fr.)
2	31	Élie Okobo	PG	France	Phoenix Suns	Pau-Lacq-Orthez (France)
2	32	Jevon Carter	PG	United States	Memphis Grizzlies	West Virginia (Sr.)
2	33	Jalen Brunson	PG	United States	Dallas Mavericks	Villanova (Jr.)
2	34	Devonte' Graham	PG	United States	Atlanta Hawks (traded to Charlotte)[d]	Kansas (Sr.)
2	35	Melvin Frazier	SF	United States	Orlando Magic	Tulane (Jr.)
2	36	Mitchell Robinson	C	United States	New York Knicks (from Chicago via Oklahoma City)[K]	Chalmette HS (Chalmette, Louisiana; HS Sr.)[n 3]
2	37	Gary Trent Jr.	SG	United States	Sacramento Kings (traded to Portland)[e]	Duke (Fr.)
2	38	Khyri Thomas	SG	United States	Philadelphia 76ers (from Brooklyn,[L] traded to Detroit)[f]	Creighton (Jr.)
2	39	Isaac Bonga	SF	Germany	Philadelphia 76ers (from New York[M], traded to the L.A. Lakers)[N]	Frankfurt Skyliners (Germany)
2	40	Rodions Kurucs	SF	Latvia	Brooklyn Nets (from L.A. Lakers via Orlando and Toronto)[O][I]	FC Barcelona Lassa (Spain)
2	41	Jarred Vanderbilt#	SF	United States	Orlando Magic (from Charlotte via Memphis and Phoenix,[P][Q] traded to Denver)[g]	Kentucky (Fr.)
2	42	Bruce Brown Jr.	SG	United States	Detroit Pistons	Miami (So.)
2	43	Justin Jackson#	SF	Canada	Denver Nuggets (from L.A. Clippers via Philadelphia and New York,[R][M][S] traded to Orlando)[g]	Maryland (So.)
2	44	Issuf Sanon#	PG	Ukraine	Washington Wizards	Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia)
2	45	Hamidou Diallo	SG	United States	Brooklyn Nets (from Milwaukee,[T] traded to Oklahoma City via Charlotte)	Kentucky (Fr.)
2	46	De'Anthony Melton	SG	United States	Houston Rockets (from Miami via Memphis)[P][U]	USC (So.)
2	47	Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk	SG	Ukraine	Los Angeles Lakers (from Denver via Utah and Chicago)[V][W]	Kansas (Sr.)
2	48	Keita Bates-Diop	SF	United States	Minnesota Timberwolves	Ohio State (Jr.)
2	49	Chimezie Metu	PF	United States	San Antonio Spurs	USC (Jr.)
2	50	Alize Johnson	PF	United States	Indiana Pacers	Missouri State (Sr.)
2	51	Tony Carr#	PG	United States	New Orleans Pelicans (previously from Chicago via New Orleans, Miami, and New Orleans)[X][G]	Penn State (So.)
2	52	Vincent Edwards	SF	United States	Utah Jazz (traded to Houston)[h]	Purdue (Sr.)
2	53	Devon Hall#	SG	United States	Oklahoma City Thunder	Virginia (Sr.)
2	54	Shake Milton	PG	United States	Dallas Mavericks (from Portland via Denver,[Y][S] traded to Philadelphia)[i]	SMU (Jr.)
2	55	Arnoldas Kulboka#	SF	Lithuania	Charlotte Hornets (from Cleveland via Brooklyn and Philadelphia)[Z][L][AA]	Orlandina Basket (Italy)[n 4]
2	56	Ray Spalding	PF	United States	Philadelphia 76ers (traded to Dallas)[i]	Louisville (Jr.)
2	57	Kevin Hervey#	PF	United States	Oklahoma City Thunder (from Boston)[AB]	Texas-Arlington (Sr.)
2	58	Thomas Welsh	C	United States	Denver Nuggets (from Golden State)[V]	UCLA (Sr.)
2	59	George King	SG	United States	Phoenix Suns (from Toronto)[AC]	Colorado (Sr.)
2	60	Kostas Antetokounmpo#	SF/PF	Greece	Philadelphia 76ers (from Houston,[AD] traded to Dallas)[i]	Dayton (Fr.)

Notable undrafted players

These players were not selected in the 2018 NBA draft, but have played at least one game in the NBA.

Player	Pos.	Nationality	School/club team
Jaylen Adams	PG	United States	St. Bonaventure (Sr.)
Rawle Alkins	PG/SG	United States	Arizona (So.)
Gary Clark	PF	United States	Cincinnati (Sr.)
Marcus Derrickson	SF	United States	Georgetown (Jr.)
Tyler Davis	C	United States  Puerto Rico	Texas A&M (Jr.)
Drew Eubanks	PF/C	United States	Oregon State (Jr.)
Brandon Goodwin	PG	United States	Florida Gulf Coast (Sr.)
Haywood Highsmith	SF	United States	Wheeling Jesuit (Sr.)
Zach Lofton	SG	United States	New Mexico State (Sr.)
Daryl Macon	PG/SG	United States	Arkansas (Sr.)
J. P. Macura	SG	United States	Xavier (Sr.)
Theo Pinson	SG/SF	United States	North Carolina (Sr.)
Duncan Robinson	SG/SF	United States	Michigan (Sr.)
Jared Terrell	SG	United States	Rhode Island (Sr.)
Allonzo Trier	SG	United States	Arizona (Jr.)
Yuta Watanabe	SF	Japan	George Washington (Sr.)
Johnathan Williams	PF	United States	Gonzaga (Sr.)
Kenrich Williams	SF	United States	TCU (Sr.)

Combine

The invitation-only NBA Draft Combine was held in Chicago from May 16 to 20. The on-court element of the combine took place on May 18 and 19. A total of 69 players were invited for the NBA Draft Combine, with two top talents in Deandre Ayton and Luka Dončić declining invitations for the event this year, with the latter player being involved with the 2018 EuroLeague Final Four at the time.^[58] Both mystery man Mitchell Robinson and Chandler Hutchison would remove themselves from the event at the last minute, although two other players would enter the event instead of them, leaving the proper number of official participants at 69.^[59] At the end of the draft deadline for international players, 12 players that entered the NBA Draft Combine that year ultimately withdrew from the NBA Draft, with 11 players returning to college and Brian Bowen planning on playing professionally before trying another NBA Draft instead.

Draft lottery

The NBA draft lottery took place during the playoffs on May 15, 2018. This year will be the last time it uses what was originally the updated system for the NBA draft lottery to upgrade draft odds for teams in the lower regions of the NBA. Starting in 2019 onward, the newer updated draft lottery will give the bottom 3 teams equal odds for the No. 1 pick, while some of the teams higher up the NBA draft would get an increased chance for a top-four pick instead of a top-three pick like in this year, thus hoping to discourage teams from potentially losing games on purpose for higher draft picks (and potentially better talent in the process). There were also two tiebreakers involved for lottery odds this season; the first involved the Dallas Mavericks having one more result favoring them having the No. 1 pick over the Atlanta Hawks after splitting the odds together, while the second tiebreaker had the Chicago Bulls splitting odds with the Sacramento Kings, resulting in the Bulls having slightly better odds on their end in the process. Funnily enough, both of the teams mentioned that lost the tiebreakers would wind up being in the Top 3 at the end of the NBA draft lottery. Furthermore, the Hawks would trade their Top 3 selection to Dallas for their selection in the draft instead.

^ 1: The Brooklyn Nets' pick was automatically conveyed to the Cleveland Cavaliers this year.^[A]
^ 2: The Los Angeles Lakers' pick was conveyed to the Philadelphia 76ers since the pick turned unprotected for them this year and wasn't in the Nos. 2-5 range.^[B]
^ 3: The Detroit Pistons' pick was conveyed to the Los Angeles Clippers since it was outside the top 4.^[C]

Eligibility and entrants

The draft is conducted under the eligibility rules established in the league's 2017 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its player's union. The previous CBA that ended the 2011 lockout instituted no immediate changes to the draft, but called for a committee of owners and players to discuss future changes.

• All drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players who are eligible for the 2018 draft must be born on or before December 31, 1999.


• Since the 2016 draft, the following rules, as implemented by the NCAA Division I council for that division, are:^[60]
  
  
  • Declaration for the draft no longer results in automatic loss of college eligibility. As long as a player does not sign a contract with a professional team outside the NBA, or sign with an agent, he will retain college eligibility as long as he makes a timely withdrawal from the draft.
  
  
  • NCAA players now have until 10 days after the end of the NBA Draft Combine to withdraw from the draft. Since the combine is held in mid-May, the current deadline is about five weeks after the previous mid-April deadline.
  
  
  • NCAA players may participate in the draft combine, and are allowed to attend one tryout per year with each NBA team without losing college eligibility.
  
  
  • NCAA players may now enter and withdraw from the draft up to two times without loss of eligibility. Previously, the NCAA treated a second declaration of draft eligibility as a permanent loss of college eligibility.
  
  
  
  

The NBA has since expanded the draft combine to include players with remaining college eligibility (who, like players without college eligibility, can only attend by invitation).^[61]

Early entrants

Players who are not automatically eligible have to declare their eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than 60 days before the draft. For the 2018 draft, the date fell on April 22. After that date, "early entry" players are able to attend NBA pre-draft camps and individual team workouts to show off their skills and obtain feedback regarding their draft positions. Under the CBA a player may withdraw his name from consideration from the draft at any time before the final declaration date, which is 10 days before the draft. Under current NCAA rules, players had until May 30 (10 days after the draft combine) to withdraw from the draft and retain college eligibility.

A player who has hired an agent forfeits his remaining college eligibility regardless of whether he is drafted.

College underclassmen

A record-high 236 underclassed draft prospects (i.e., players with remaining college eligibility) had declared by the April 22 deadline, with 181 of these players being from college.^[62] The names listed here mean they have hired an agent, or have announced that they plan to do so before the night of the draft. At the end of the deadline, 77 players declared their intentions to enter the draft with an agent (with one player announcing his entry after the deadline) while 100 players announced their return to college for at least one more season.^[63] Meanwhile, Matur Maker, Brian Bowen, Micah Seaborn and Tavarius Shine did not enter the draft after letting their deadlines to retain college eligibility expire. These players instead decided to enter in 2019 via either the NBA G League or another professional league.^[64]

International players

International players that had declared this year and did not previously declare in another prior year can drop out of the draft about 10 days before the draft begins on June 11. Initially, there were 55 players who originally expressed interest in entering the 2018 draft, one of which was a player who came directly out of high school from Canada. However, by the end of the deadline, 43 of those players (including the aforementioned Canadian high schooler) would ultimately pull their names out of the draft, leaving only 11 true international players entering the NBA Draft this year (the NBA link mentions LiAngelo Ball as an international player in the loosest sense of the word, but not Billy Preston there).^[65] Combining both the number of players listed previously and both LiAngelo Ball and Billy Preston as now automatically eligible underclassmen under unique situations, the total number of underclassmen rounds out to 90 overall players.

Automatically eligible entrants

Players who do not meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:^[66]

• They have completed four years of their college eligibility.


• If they graduated from high school in the U.S., but did not enroll in a U.S. college or university, four years have passed since their high school class graduated.


• They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA, anywhere in the world, and have played under that contract.

Players who meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:^[66]

• They are at least 22 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players born on or before December 31, 1996 are automatically eligible for the 2018 draft.


• They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA within the United States, and have played under that contract.

Other automatically eligible players

Player	Team	Note	Ref.
LiAngelo Ball	Vytautas Prienai–Birštonas (Lithuania)	Removed himself from UCLA in 2017.	[67]
Darin Johnson	Delaware 87ers (NBA G League)	Left Cal State Northridge in 2017; playing professionally since 2017–18 season.
Billy Preston	Igokea Laktaši (Bosnia & Herzegovina)	Removed himself from Kansas in 2018.	[62]
Maverick Rowan	Lakeland Magic (NBA G League)	Left NC State in 2017; playing professionally since 2017–18 season.

Trades involving draft picks

Pre-draft trades

Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of draft picks between the teams below.

Draft-day trades

Draft-day trades occurred on June 21, 2018, the day of the draft.

Invited attendees

The NBA annually invites around 15–20 players to sit in the so-called "green room", a special room set aside at the draft site for the invited players plus their families and agents. When their names are called, the player leaves the room and goes up on stage. Other players who are not invited are allowed to attend the ceremony. They sit in the stands with the fans and walk up on stage when (or if) they are drafted.^[68] On June 15, 2018, 19 total players were announced as invites for the NBA Draft that year (all of whom coming out of college this year), while potential top 3 pick Luka Dončić was initially not invited to the event due to the Liga ACB Finals potentially extending through the draft. On June 19, ESPN reported that Dončić would attend the draft after all, following Real Madrid's championship victory the previous night.^[69] The following players (listed alphabetically) have been confirmed as invites for the event this year:

Notes

References

External links

• Official site