The first overall pick of this draft was 7’4” center Ralph Sampson, predicted as an NBA superstar since high school. The three-time College Player of the Year had spent all four years of his college career at the University of Virginia, and was taken first by the Houston Rockets. Displaying his graceful above-the-rim game and ability to run the court like a guard, he got off to a certain Hall of Fame bound start as an NBA All-Star and NBA Rookie of the Year before injuries several seasons in derailed his career.
Sampson was joined in the Hall by University of Houston Cougars standout Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, taken number 14 by the Portland Trail Blazers. Despite there being only 23 teams at the time of the draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers were awarded the 24th pick out of courtesy. Then-owner Ted Stepien was infamous for repeatedly trading first-round picks in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which, considering Cleveland's morose records in that time period, eventually culminated in the NBA creating a rule banning teams from dealing all of their first-round picks in consecutive years.
7’7” Manute Bol was selected in the 5th round by the Clippers, but the NBA rejected the pick on technicalities. Manute had never filed draft paperwork, and his passport listed him at 19 (at the time, 19 years was too young to be drafted).[2]
*Compensation for draft choices previously traded away by Ted Stepien.
↑ 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.
↑ The Rockets selected Darrell Johnson of the San Jose State Spartans who was a junior and ineligible for the draft because he had not declared hardship status.[3]
↑ The 76ers selected Norman Horvitz, the medical director of Nutrisystem and a friend of 76ers owner Harold Katz. Horvitz had graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science in 1956 and was declared ineligible by the NBA because he had been out of college for more than 27 years. Excluding later draft selections of players from the Soviet Union, Horvitz would be the last person the NBA considered to be an ineligible draft selection.[4]
Early entrants
College underclassmen
For the fifth time in six years, no college underclassman would withdraw their entry into the NBA draft. This time, only six college underclassmen would declare their entry into the draft. The following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.[5]
The 1983 NBA draft is considered to be the sixth 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 in the Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum for the second year in a row[6]), 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. 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 Larry O'Brien, the NBA's commissioner at the time.[7] 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 13 prospects at the time.[8] However, two of the invitations to the draft in Sidney Lowe and Dereck Whittenburg would end up staying in the green room by not just the second round, but by as late as the third round at the 51st round, with Whittenburg being the latest selection for a natural, day one draftee invite as of 2025. Not only that, but Whittenburg would be the first invite to never play a single NBA game after being drafted following his invitation. Even so, the following players were invited to attend this year's draft festivities live and in person.[6]
"1983 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
"1982–1986 NBA Drafts". The Association for Professional Basketball Research. Archived from the original on November 16, 2010. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
Specific
↑ Bradley, Robert D. (2013). The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts. Scarecrow Press. ISBN9780810890695.
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