2002 NBA draft

The 2002 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2002, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting 57 amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, such as players from non-North American leagues.[1] This was the last draft that was broadcast on TNT, as ESPN obtained the rights for the 2003 draft via its incoming deal (which it retains to this day). The NBA announced that about 42 college and high school players, and five international players, had filed as early-entry candidates for the draft.[2] The Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors each had a 22.5% chance of acquiring the first pick, but the Houston Rockets, with just an 8.9% probability, won the NBA draft lottery on May 19.[3][4] The Bulls and Warriors were second and third, respectively. As punishment for salary-cap violations during the 2000–01 season, the Minnesota Timberwolves forfeited their first-round draft pick.

2002 NBA draft
General information
SportBasketball
Date(s)June 26, 2002
LocationMadison Square Garden (New York City, New York)
Network(s)TNT
Overview
57 total selections in 2 rounds
LeagueNBA
First selectionYao Ming (Houston Rockets)

The 2002 draft set a record of 17 international selections, with six of them coming in the first round.[5]

Two months after the conclusion of his rookie season, number-two pick Jay Williams nearly lost his life in a motorcycle crash that shattered his pelvis, severed a main nerve in his leg and tore three ligaments in his left knee, including his ACL. Despite intense rehabilitation, Williams never played a game in the NBA again. When it became clear Williams could not return to the Bulls because of his injuries, the team waived him. The Bulls could have voided Williams' contract because it prohibited riding a motorcycle. However, the franchise bought out his contract for $3 million in 2004 instead of having him walk away with nothing.[6]

The draft class was relatively weak outside of the top prospects. Several players selected early had promising careers that ended prematurely due to injury, including Yao Ming, Williams and Dajuan Wagner. Nevertheless, Yao was named a Hall of Famer—a selection predicated as much on his role in popularizing basketball in China as it was for his on-court play. Nevertheless, three players selected in this draft - including Yao, second-round pick Carlos Boozer and Rookie of the Year Amar'e Stoudemire - would be named to the All-NBA Team during their careers. Caron Butler was the only other player to become an All-Star.

As of the end of the 2022–23 NBA season, Udonis Haslem was the last remaining active draft-eligible player from the 2002 class, though he went undrafted (he made his NBA debut the following season).

Nine of the players selected in this draft never played in an NBA game throughout their professional basketball careers. Three of those players were the sole selection of the draft from their respective teams: Peter Fehse (Seattle's only pick), Marcus Taylor (Minnesota's only pick) and Mladen Šekularac (Dallas' only pick).

Draft selections

Yao Ming was selected 1st overall by the Houston Rockets.
Amar'e Stoudemire was selected 9th overall by the Phoenix Suns.
Caron Butler was selected 10th overall by the Miami Heat.
Carlos Boozer was selected 35th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
PGPoint guard SGShooting guard SFSmall forward PFPower forward CCenter
^ Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
* Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game and All-NBA Team
+ Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game
# Denotes player who has never appeared in an NBA regular season or playoff game
~ Denotes player who has been selected as Rookie of the Year
Round Pick Player Position Nationality[n 1] Team School or club team
1 1 Yao Ming^ C  China Houston Rockets Shanghai Sharks (China)
1 2 Jay Williams PG  United States Chicago Bulls Duke (Jr.)
1 3 Mike Dunleavy Jr. SF/SG  United States Golden State Warriors Duke (Jr.)
1 4 Drew Gooden PF/C  United States Memphis Grizzlies Kansas (Jr.)
1 5 Nikoloz Tskitishvili PF/C  Georgia Denver Nuggets Benetton Treviso (Italy)
1 6 Dajuan Wagner PG  United States Cleveland Cavaliers Memphis (Fr.)
1 7 Nenê Hilario C/PF  Brazil New York Knicks (traded to Denver)[7] Vasco da Gama (Brazil)
1 8 Chris Wilcox PF/C  United States Los Angeles Clippers (from Atlanta) Maryland (So.)
1 9 Amar'e Stoudemire*~ PF/C  United States Phoenix Suns Cypress Creek HS (Orlando, Florida)
1 10 Caron Butler+ SF  United States Miami Heat Connecticut (So.)
1 11 Jared Jeffries PF/C  United States Washington Wizards Indiana (So.)
1 12 Melvin Ely C/PF  United States Los Angeles Clippers Fresno State (Sr.)
1 13 Marcus Haislip PF  United States Milwaukee Bucks Tennessee (Jr.)
1 14 Fred Jones SG  United States Indiana Pacers Oregon (Sr.)
1 15 Boštjan Nachbar SF/PF  Slovenia Houston Rockets (from Toronto) Benetton Treviso (Italy)
1 16 Jiří Welsch SG/SF  Czech Republic Philadelphia 76ers (traded to Golden State) Union Olimpija (Slovenia and Adriatic League)
1 17 Juan Dixon PG  United States Washington Wizards (from New Orleans) Maryland (Sr.)
1 18 Curtis Borchardt C  United States Orlando Magic (traded to Utah) Stanford (Jr.)
1 19 Ryan Humphrey PF  United States Utah Jazz (traded to Orlando) Notre Dame (Sr.)
1 20 Kareem Rush SG  United States Toronto Raptors (from Seattle via New York, traded to Los Angeles Lakers) Missouri (Jr.)
1 21 Qyntel Woods SF  United States Portland Trail Blazers Northeast Mississippi CC (So.)
1 22 Casey Jacobsen SG  United States Phoenix Suns (from Boston) Stanford (Jr.)
1 23 Tayshaun Prince SF  United States Detroit Pistons Kentucky (Sr.)
1 24 Nenad Krstić C/PF  FR Yugoslavia New Jersey Nets Partizan Belgrade (Sinalco Superleague and Adriatic League)
1 25 Frank Williams PG  United States Denver Nuggets (from Dallas, traded to New York)[7] Illinois (Jr.)
1 26 John Salmons SF/SG  United States San Antonio Spurs (traded to Philadelphia) Miami (Sr.)
1 27 Chris Jefferies SF  United States Los Angeles Lakers (traded to Toronto) Fresno State (Jr.)
1 28 Dan Dickau PG  United States Sacramento Kings (traded to Atlanta) Gonzaga (Sr.)
1 29 Forfeited pick Minnesota Timberwolves (forfeited their first-round pick due to salary cap violations)[8]
2 30 Steve Logan# PG  United States Golden State Warriors Cincinnati (Sr.)
2 31 Roger Mason Jr. SG  United States Chicago Bulls Virginia (Jr.)
2 32 Robert Archibald PF  United Kingdom Memphis Grizzlies Illinois (Sr.)
2 33 Vincent Yarbrough SF  United States Denver Nuggets Tennessee (Sr.)
2 34 Dan Gadzuric C  Netherlands Milwaukee Bucks (from Houston) UCLA (Sr.)
2 35 Carlos Boozer* PF  United States Cleveland Cavaliers Duke (Jr.)
2 36 Miloš Vujanić# PG  FR Yugoslavia New York Knicks Partizan Belgrade (Sinalco Superleague and Adriatic League)
2 37 David Andersen C  Australia Atlanta Hawks Virtus Bologna (Italy)
2 38 Tito Maddox PG  United States Houston Rockets (from Miami) Fresno State (So.)
2 39 Rod Grizzard# SG  United States Washington Wizards (from Phoenix via Denver) Alabama (Jr.)
2 40 Juan Carlos Navarro PG  Spain Washington Wizards FC Barcelona (Spain)
2 41 Mario Kasun C  Croatia Los Angeles Clippers Opel Skyliners (Germany)
2 42 Ronald Murray SG  United States Milwaukee Bucks Shaw (Sr.)
2 43 Jason Jennings# C  United States Portland Trail Blazers (from Toronto via Chicago) Arkansas State (Sr.)
2 44 Lonny Baxter PF  United States Chicago Bulls (from Indiana) Maryland (Sr.)
2 45 Sam Clancy# PF  United States Philadelphia 76ers USC (Sr.)
2 46 Matt Barnes SF  United States Memphis Grizzlies (from Orlando) UCLA (Sr.)
2 47 Jamal Sampson C  United States Utah Jazz (traded to Orlando) California (Fr.)
2 48 Chris Owens PF  United States Milwaukee Bucks (from New Orleans, traded to Memphis) Texas (Sr.)
2 49 Peter Fehse# PF  Germany Seattle SuperSonics Halle (Germany)
2 50 Darius Songaila PF  Lithuania Boston Celtics Wake Forest (Sr.)
2 51 Federico Kammerichs# SF  Argentina Portland Trail Blazers Ourense (Spain)
2 52 Marcus Taylor# PG  United States Minnesota Timberwolves Michigan State (So.)
2 53 Rasual Butler SF  United States Miami Heat (from Detroit via Toronto and Houston) La Salle (Sr.)
2 54 Tamar Slay SG  United States New Jersey Nets Marshall (Sr.)
2 55 Mladen Šekularac# SG  FR Yugoslavia Dallas Mavericks FMP Železnik (Sinalco Superleague and Adriatic League)
2 56 Luis Scola PF  Argentina San Antonio Spurs (from L.A. Lakers) TAU Cerámica (Spain)
2 57 Randy Holcomb PF  United States
 Libya
San Antonio Spurs (traded to Philadelphia) San Diego State (Sr.)
2 58 Corsley Edwards PF  United States Sacramento Kings Central Connecticut (Sr.)
  1. Nationality indicates the player's national team or representative nationality. If a player has not competed at the international level, then the nationality indicates the national team which the player is eligible to represent according to FIBA rules.

Notable undrafted players

These eligible players were not selected in this draft but played at least one game in the NBA.

Player Position Nationality School or club team
Maurice Baker PG  United States Oklahoma State (Sr.)
J. R. Bremer PG  United States St. Bonaventure (Sr.)
Devin Brown SG  United States UTSA (Sr.)
Josh Davis PF/SF  United States Wyoming (Sr.)
Reggie Evans PF  United States Iowa (Sr.)
Alex Garcia SG/SF  Brazil COC Ribeirão Preto (Brazil)
Lynn Greer PG/SG  United States Temple (Sr.)
Anthony Grundy PG/SG  United States NC State (Sr.)
Adam Harrington PG/SG  United States Auburn (Sr.)
Lorinza Harrington PG/SG  United States Wingate (Sr.)
Udonis Haslem PF  United States Florida (Sr.)
Linton Johnson SF  United States Tulane (Sr.)
Arvydas Macijauskas SG  Lithuania Lietuvos Rytas (Lithuania)
D.J. Mbenga C  DR Congo
 Belgium
Leuven Bears (Belgium)
Keith McLeod PG  United States Bowling Green (Sr.)
Jannero Pargo PG  United States Arkansas (Sr.)
Smush Parker PG/SG  United States Fordham (So.)
Predrag Savović SG  FR Yugoslavia Hawaii (Sr.)
Awvee Storey PF/SF  United States Arizona State (Sr.)
Yuta Tabuse PG  Japan BYU–Hawaii (Fr.)

Early entrants

College underclassmen

The following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.[9]

High school players

The following high school players successfully applied for early draft entrance.[9]

International players

The following international players successfully applied for early draft entrance.[9]

See also

References

  1. NBA.com: 2002 Draft Handbook
  2. NBA.com. Twenty-Four Early Entry Candidates Withdraw from Draft 2002. Retrieved June 26, 2007.
  3. NBA.com. Ties Broken for NBA Draft Order of Selection. April 24, 2002. Retrieved June 26, 2007.
  4. "Cavaliers Win NBA Draft Lottery 2003". NBA.com. Archived from the original on December 26, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2007.
  5. Lago, Joe. Draft record set with 17 foreign-born picks. June 26, 2002. Retrieved June 26, 2002.
  6. Nance, Roscoe. Bulls, Jay Williams agree to contract buyout. February 2, 2004. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  7. The Knicks traded #7 pick along with Marcus Camby and Mark Jackson to the Nuggets for Antonio McDyess, #25 pick and a 2003 second-round pick.
  8. "NBA Restores Timberwolves' 2005 Draft Pick". NBA.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
  9. "2002 Underclassmen". The Draft Review. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
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