The 1982 NBA draft took place on June 29, 1982, at the
Felt Forum
The Theater at Madison Square Garden is a Theater (structure), theater located in New York City's Madison Square Garden (MSG). It seats between 2,000 and 5,600 people and is used for concerts, shows, sports, meetings, and other events. It is situ ...
at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...
in New York City, New York.
The #1 selection from this year's draft,
James Worthy, was drafted by the
Los Angeles Lakers despite them being one of the best teams in the NBA the previous season. Their selection at #1 this year related to a previous trade that the Lakers made with the
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...
, which had them trading their first round pick for
Don Ford back in 1979. Worthy would help the Lakers turn the
Showtime Lakers into a dynasty for the 1980s decade. Meanwhile, continued first round trade considerations that the Cavaliers' owner at the time,
Ted Stepien, led to the NBA stopping any further trades with him and the team's draft picks before he traded selections throughout the entire decade, as well as led to the creation of the Ted Stepien Rule forbidding teams of trading first round draft picks in back-to-back years unless a team had a different first round pick that they kept during that time.
Draft
Early entrants
College underclassmen
For the first time since
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
, a player that had previously qualified for entry in the NBA draft as a college underclassman (in this case, a
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
n born player from
Sam Houston State University named Yommy Sangodeyi) would later withdraw his entry into the draft pool. He would become the only underclassman player to officially withdraw his name from an NBA draft during the 1980s decade, though he would return in another draft
a couple of years later. The following twelve
college basketball
College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...
players successfully applied for early draft entrance otherwise.
*
John Bagley – G,
Boston College (junior)
*
Terry Cummings – F,
DePaul (junior)
*
Quintin Dailey – G,
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
(junior)
* Ollie Johnson – F,
Washington State (junior)
*
Clark Kellogg – F,
Ohio State (junior)
*
Cliff Levingston – F,
Wichita State (junior)
* Michael McDuffen – G,
Murray State (junior)
*
LaSalle Thompson – F/C,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
(junior)
*
Dominique Wilkins – F,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
(junior)
*
Rob Williams – G,
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
(junior)
*
James Worthy – F,
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
(junior)
* Victor Mitchell – C,
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
(junior)
See also
*
List of first overall NBA draft picks
References
;General
*
*
*
;Specific
External links
NBA.com
{{NBA on USA
Draft
Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...
NBA draft
NBA draft
NBA draft
1980s in Manhattan
Basketball in New York City
Sporting events in New York City
Sports in Manhattan