2001 NBA draft

2001 NBA draft
General information
Sport	Basketball
Date(s)	June 27, 2001
Location	The Theater at Madison Square Garden (New York City, New York)
Network(s)	TNT
Overview
57 total selections in 2 rounds
League	NBA
First selection	Kwame Brown (Washington Wizards)
Hall of Famers	2 PF Pau Gasol PG Tony Parker
←  2000 2002  →

The 2001 NBA draft took place on June 27, 2001, in New York City, New York. Kwame Brown became the first high school player to be drafted with the first overall pick in the history of the NBA. The selection of Kwame Brown by the Washington Wizards, over players that have gone on to have more successful NBA careers, has been a source of great criticism by numerous media outlets. ^[1] Several international players from this draft, Pau Gasol (Spain), Tony Parker (France) and Mehmet Okur (Turkey), became NBA All-Stars.

The Minnesota Timberwolves forfeited their first-round pick due to salary cap violations. ^[2] It would be the first of two first rounders that would have to forfeit their picks during the early 2000s.

Eight of the players selected in this draft would never play in an NBA game in their professional basketball careers. Both of the players drafted by the New York Knicks (Michael Wright and Eric Chenowith) were among this group.

The final remaining active player from this draft was Joe Johnson, who retired from the NBA following the 2022 season. Thus, no active players remain from this class.

Draft selections

G

Guard

PG

Point guard

SG

Shooting guard

F

Forward

SF

Small forward

PF

Power forward

C

Center

^	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

Kwame Brown was selected 1st overall by the Washington Wizards.

Tyson Chandler was selected 2nd overall by the Los Angeles Clippers (traded to the Chicago Bulls).

Pau Gasol was selected 3rd overall by the Atlanta Hawks (traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies).

Joe Johnson was selected 10th overall by the Boston Celtics.

Zach Randolph was selected 19th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Gerald Wallace was selected 25th overall by the Sacramento Kings.

Tony Parker was selected 28th overall by the San Antonio Spurs.

Gilbert Arenas was selected 31st overall by the Golden State Warriors.

Mehmet Okur was selected 38th overall by the Detroit Pistons.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality [n 1]	Team	School/club team
1	1	Kwame Brown	PF	United States	Washington Wizards	Glynn Academy (Brunswick, Georgia)
1	2	Tyson Chandler *	C	United States	Los Angeles Clippers (traded to Chicago)	Dominguez HS (Compton, California)
1	3	Pau Gasol ^~	PF/C	Spain	Atlanta Hawks (traded to Vancouver)	FC Barcelona (Spain)
1	4	Eddy Curry	C	United States	Chicago Bulls	Thornwood HS (South Holland, Illinois)
1	5	Jason Richardson	SG	United States	Golden State Warriors	Michigan State (So.)
1	6	Shane Battier	SF	United States	Vancouver Grizzlies	Duke (Sr.)
1	7	Eddie Griffin	PF	United States	New Jersey Nets (traded to Houston)	Seton Hall (Fr.)
1	8	DeSagana Diop	C	Senegal	Cleveland Cavaliers	Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia) HS
1	9	Rodney White	SF/PF	United States	Detroit Pistons	Charlotte (Fr.)
1	10	Joe Johnson *	SG	United States	Boston Celtics	Arkansas (So.)
1	11	Kedrick Brown	SF	United States	Boston Celtics (from Denver)	Okaloosa-Walton CC (So.)
1	12	Vladimir Radmanović	PF	Yugoslavia	Seattle SuperSonics	FMP (Yugoslavia)
1	13	Richard Jefferson	SF	United States	Houston Rockets (traded to New Jersey)	Arizona (Jr.)
1	14	Troy Murphy	PF	United States	Golden State Warriors (from Indiana)	Notre Dame (Jr.)
1	15	Steven Hunter	C	United States	Orlando Magic	DePaul (Fr.)
1	16	Kirk Haston	PF	United States	Charlotte Hornets	Indiana (Jr.)
1	17	Michael Bradley	PF	United States	Toronto Raptors	Villanova (Jr.)
1	18	Jason Collins	C	United States	Houston Rockets (from New York via Phoenix and Orlando, traded to New Jersey)	Stanford (Sr.)
1	19	Zach Randolph *	PF	United States	Portland Trail Blazers	Michigan State (Fr.)
1	20	Brendan Haywood	C	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers (from Miami, traded to Orlando)	North Carolina (Sr.)
1	21	Joseph Forte	SG	United States	Boston Celtics (from Phoenix via Denver and Utah)	North Carolina (So.)
1	22	Jeryl Sasser	SG	United States	Orlando Magic (from Milwaukee via Houston)	SMU (Sr.)
1	23	Brandon Armstrong	SG	United States	Houston Rockets (from Dallas via Orlando, traded to New Jersey)	Pepperdine (Jr.)
1	24	Raül López	PG	Spain	Utah Jazz	Real Madrid (Spain)
1	25	Gerald Wallace +	SF	United States	Sacramento Kings	Alabama (Fr.)
1	26	Samuel Dalembert	C	Canada [3]	Philadelphia 76ers	Seton Hall (So.)
1	27	Jamaal Tinsley	PG	United States	Vancouver Grizzlies (from L.A. Lakers via New York, traded to Indiana via Atlanta)	Iowa State (Sr.)
1	28	Tony Parker ^	PG	France [4]	San Antonio Spurs	Paris Basket Racing (France)
1	29	Forfeited pick			Minnesota Timberwolves (forfeited their first-round pick due to salary cap violations) [5]
2	30	Trenton Hassell	SG	United States	Chicago Bulls	Austin Peay (Sr.)
2	31	Gilbert Arenas *	PG	United States	Golden State Warriors	Arizona (So.)
2	32	Omar Cook	PG	United States	Orlando Magic (from Washington, traded to Denver)	St. John's (Fr.)
2	33	Will Solomon	PG	United States	Vancouver Grizzlies	Clemson (Sr.)
2	34	Brian Scalabrine	SF	United States	New Jersey Nets	USC (Sr)
2	35	Terence Morris	PF	United States	Atlanta Hawks	Maryland (Sr.)
2	36	Jeff Trepagnier	SG	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers	USC (Sr.)
2	37	Damone Brown	SF	United States	Philadelphia 76ers (from L.A. Clippers)	Syracuse (Sr.)
2	38	Mehmet Okur +	C	Turkey	Detroit Pistons	Efes Pilsen (Turkey)
2	39	Michael Wright [6] #	PF	United States	New York Knicks (from Boston via Seattle)	Arizona (Jr.)
2	40	Earl Watson	PG	United States	Seattle SuperSonics	UCLA (Sr.)
2	41	Jamison Brewer	PG	United States	Indiana Pacers	Auburn (So.)
2	42	Bobby Simmons	F/G	United States	Seattle SuperSonics	DePaul (Jr.)
2	43	Eric Chenowith [7] #	C	United States	New York Knicks (from Seattle)	Kansas (Sr.)
2	44	Kyle Hill [8] #	PG	United States	Dallas Mavericks (from Houston)	Eastern Illinois (Sr.)
2	45	Sean Lampley	SF	United States	Chicago Bulls (from Charlotte)	California (Sr.)
2	46	Loren Woods	C	United States	Minnesota Timberwolves	Arizona (Sr.)
2	47	Ousmane Cisse [9] #	PF	Mali	Denver Nuggets (from Toronto)	St. Jude HS (Montgomery, Alabama)
2	48	Antonis Fotsis	SF	Greece	Vancouver Grizzlies (from New York)	Panathinaikos (Greece) 1981
2	49	Ken Johnson	C	United States	Miami Heat	Ohio State (Sr.)
2	50	Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje	C	Cameroon	Portland Trail Blazers	Georgetown (Sr.)
2	51	Alton Ford	PF	United States	Phoenix Suns	Houston (Fr.)
2	52	Andre Hutson [10] #	PF	United States	Milwaukee Bucks	Michigan State (Sr.)
2	53	Jarron Collins	F/C	United States	Utah Jazz	Stanford (Sr.)
2	54	Kenny Satterfield	PG	United States	Dallas Mavericks	Cincinnati (So.)
2	55	Maurice Jeffers [11] #	SG	United States	Sacramento Kings	Saint Louis (Sr.)
2	56	Robertas Javtokas [12] #	C	Lithuania	San Antonio Spurs (from L.A. Lakers)	Lietuvos rytas Vilnius (Lithuania)
2	57	Alvin Jones	C	Luxembourg	Philadelphia 76ers	Georgia Tech (Sr.)
2	58	Bryan Bracey [13] #	SF	United States	San Antonio Spurs	Oregon (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

Further information: List of undrafted NBA players

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

Player	Position	Nationality	School/club team
Carlos Arroyo	PG	Puerto Rico	FIU (Sr.)
Charlie Bell	G	United States	Michigan State (Sr.)
Tierre Brown	G	United States	McNeese State (Sr.)
Joe Crispin	PG	United States	Penn State (Sr.)
Maurice Evans	SG/SF	United States	Texas (Jr.)
Tang Hamilton	SF	United States	Mississippi State (Sr.)
Walter Herrmann	SF	Argentina	Atenas de Córdoba (Argentina)
Horace Jenkins	PG	United States	William Paterson (Sr.)
Jamario Moon	SF	United States	Meridian CC (Fr.)
Andrés Nocioni	PF/SF	Argentina	TAU Cerámica (Spain)
Dean Oliver	PG	United States	Iowa (Sr.)
Norman Richardson	G	United States	Hofstra (Sr.)
Paul Shirley	PF	United States	Iowa State (Sr.)
Cezary Trybański	C	Poland	Znicz Pruszków (Poland)
Ratko Varda	C	Yugoslavia	Partizan (Serbia)
Mike Wilks	PG	United States	Rice (Sr.)

Early entrants

College underclassmen

This year would officially mark the very first year where the number of underclassmen that declared their entry into the NBA draft would exceed the number of selections made with 75 players that fit the underclassmen criteria declaring their initial entry for the NBA draft. However, it would also mark the largest number of dropped players yet with 23 of those players either coming from college or overseas deciding to withdraw from the draft for one reason or another. The following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance. ^[14]

• Gilbert Arenas – G, Arizona (sophomore)
• Brandon Armstrong – G, Pepperdine (junior)
• Malcolm Battles – F, Point Mark (junior)
• Tavorris Bell – F, Rhode Island (junior)
• Preston Bennett – F, Grayson (freshman)
• Michael Bradley – F, Villanova (junior)
• Jamison Brewer – G, Auburn (sophomore)
• Kedrick Brown – F, Okaloosa-Walton CC (sophomore)
• SirValiant Brown – G, George Washington (sophomore)
• Nick Burwell – G, Orange Coast (sophomore)
• Jason Collins – C, Stanford (junior)
• Omar Cook – G, St. John's (freshman)
• Samuel Dalembert – C/F, Seton Hall (sophomore)
• Maurice Evans – G, Texas (junior)
• Benjamin Eze – F, Southern Idaho (freshman)
• Alton Ford – F, Houston (freshman)
• Joseph Forte – G, North Carolina (sophomore)
• Jerry Green – G, UC Irvine (junior)
• Eddie Griffin – F, Seton Hall (freshman)
• Rob Griffin – F, Kentucky Wesleyan (junior)
• Trenton Hassell – G, Austin Peay (junior)
• Kirk Haston – F, Indiana (junior)
• Draper Housley – G, Lee College (sophomore)
• Steven Hunter – C/F, DePaul (sophomore)
• Richard Jefferson – F, Arizona (junior)
• Joe Johnson – F/G, Arkansas (sophomore)
• D. A. Layne – G, Georgia (junior)
• Zach Marbury – G, Rhode Island (sophomore)
• Jamario Moon – F, Meridian (freshman)
• Troy Murphy – F, Notre Dame (junior)
• Zach Randolph – F, Michigan State (freshman)
• Jason Richardson – G, Michigan State (sophomore)
• Kenny Satterfield – G, Cincinnati (sophomore)
• Bobby Simmons – F, DePaul (junior)
• Will Solomon – G, Clemson (junior)
• Clifton Terry – F, Kennedy–King (sophomore)
• Gerald Wallace – F/G, Alabama (freshman)
• Rodney White – F, Charlotte (freshman)
• Michael Wright – F, Arizona (junior)

High school players

This would be the seventh straight year in a row where at least one high school player would declare their entry into the NBA draft directly out of high school after previously only allowing it one time back in 1975. This year would also mark the year with the highest amount of players coming directly out of high school yet with six players deciding to make the jump into an opportunity at the NBA (though only five of them would get it). Not only that, but it marked the first time that a high schooler would be taken as the #1 pick of the NBA draft. The following high school players successfully applied for early draft entrance. ^[14]

• Kwame Brown – F, Glynn Academy (Brunswick, Georgia)
• Tyson Chandler – F/C, Dominguez High School (Compton, California)
• Ousmane Cisse – F, St. Jude Educational Institute (Montgomery, Alabama)
• Eddy Curry – C/F, Thornwood High School (South Holland, Illinois)
• DeSagana Diop – C, Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia)
• Tony Key – C, Centennial High School (Compton, California)

International players

The following international players successfully applied for early draft entrance. ^[14]

• Denis Ershov – C, Pulkovo Saint Petersburg (Russia)
• Antonis Fotsis – F, Panathinaikos (Greece)
• Pau Gasol – F, FC Barcelona (Spain)
• Raül López – G, Real Madrid (Spain)
• Tony Parker – G, Paris Basket Racing (France)
• Vladimir Radmanović – F, FMP (FR Yugoslavia)

Other eligible players

Player	Team	Note	Ref.
Robertas Javtokas	Lietuvos Rytas (Lithuania)	Left Arizona in 2000; playing professionally since the 2000–01 season	[15]

See also

• List of first overall NBA draft picks

References

1. "Biggest Bust of the 00s". AOL News. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
2. "NBA Restores Timberwolves' 2005 Draft Pick". NBA.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
3. Dalembert was born in   Haiti but grew up and spent his childhood in Canada, where he later became a citizen in 2007.
4. Parker was born in Belgium but represents France in international competitions.
5. "NBA Restores Timberwolves' 2005 Draft Pick". NBA.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
6. "Michael Wright Stats". ESPN. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
7. "Eric Chenowith Stats". ESPN. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
8. "Kyle Hill Stats". ESPN. April 7, 1979. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
9. "Ousmane Cisse Stats". ESPN. October 20, 1982. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
10. "Andre Hutson Stats". ESPN. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
11. "Maurice Jeffers Stats". ESPN. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
12. http://www.nba.com/historical/search/index.jsp?kw=Robertas%20Javtokas#results%5B%5D
13. "Bryan Bracey Stats". ESPN. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
14. "2001 Underclassmen". The Draft Review. August 4, 2007. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
15. Freeman, Rick; Magruder, Jack (March 16, 2000). "NCAA Tournament Notebook". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 22, 2022.

External links

• NBA.com: 2001 NBA Draft
• Basketball Reference: 2001 NBA Draft