2014 NBA draft


The 2014 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2014, at Barclays Center, Brooklyn. National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The draft lottery took place on May 7, 2014. The Cleveland Cavaliers won the draft lottery to earn the first overall pick in the draft; this is the fourth number-one pick for Cleveland since 2003 and third number-one pick over a four-year span from 2011 to 2014. This draft would also be the first for the reborn Charlotte Hornets, who played as the Bobcats from 2004 to 2014, since 2001, when the original Charlotte Hornets last selected as the Charlotte Hornets before moving to New Orleans and eventually becoming the current New Orleans Pelicans.
Television rights in the United States belonged to ESPN. It was tipped by many to be one of the deepest and most hyped draft classes in recent years, with several players touted as future stars. State Farm was the presenting sponsor of the draft. College underclassmen that were highly touted by NBA scouts and executives included: Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Aaron Gordon, Julius Randle, Zach LaVine, T. J. Warren, and Gary Harris. Other highly sought after talents included Australian player Dante Exum and Croatian player Dario Šarić, who both declared for the draft, and Doug McDermott, who was automatically eligible as a graduating college senior.
Highlights from the draft included the first selections made by Adam Silver as commissioner and Mark Tatum as deputy commissioner, the second Canadian to be the first overall pick, the first pair of Canadian top 10 picks and second pair of Canadian lottery picks, three top 20 Canadian selections, the first NBA Development League player to be selected in the first round, the first time multiple NBA Development League players were selected in the same draft, and the first Cape Verdean player to be selected in the draft. In addition, a standing ovation for Isaiah Austin occurred between the 15th and 16th picks of the draft, which included having the NBA itself hold a ceremonial pick to select him as a means of letting his dream of having his name be heard in the NBA draft come true, which happened days after he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome and originally was never considered to play professional basketball again. Nearly two months after the draft ended, Andrew Wiggins was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of a three-team deal that brought Kevin Love to Cleveland; this resulted in the second time since the NBA–ABA merger that a first overall draft pick would not play a single game for the team that drafted him.
Three-time MVP Nikola Jokić was taken with the 41st pick in the second round of the draft, making him the lowest draft selection ever to win the MVP Award and the NBA Finals MVP award.

Draft selections

PlayerTeam
11+~SF/SGCleveland CavaliersKansas
12SF/PFMilwaukee BucksDuke
13*CPhiladelphia 76ersKansas
14PFUnited Statessortname|Danté|ExumAUSsortname|Marcus|Smart

Notable undrafted players

These eligible players were not selected in the 2014 NBA draft but have played at least one game in the NBA. In April 2015, the undrafted Sim Bhullar became the first player of Indian descent to play in the league.
PlayerPositionNationalitySchool/club team
PGUnited Statessortname|Jerrelle|Benimon

Eligibility and entrants

The draft is conducted under the eligibility rules established in the league's new 2011 collective bargaining agreement with its players union. The 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., the basic eligibility rules for the draft are listed below.
  • All drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players eligible for the 2014 draft must be born on or before December 31, 1995.
  • Any player who is not an "international player", as defined in the CBA, must be at least one year removed from the graduation of his high school class. The CBA defines "international players" as players who permanently resided outside the United States for three years prior to the draft, did not complete high school in the U.S., and have never enrolled at a U.S. college or university.

    Early entrants

Player who are not automatically eligible must declare their eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than 60 days before the draft. For the 2014 draft, this date fell on April 27. After this date, "early entry" players may 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 then-current NCAA rules, players only had until April 16 to withdraw from the draft and maintain their college eligibility.
A player who has hired an agent will forfeit his remaining college eligibility, regardless of whether he is drafted. Also, while the CBA allows a player to withdraw from the draft twice, the NCAA then mandated that a player who declared twice lost his college eligibility.
This year, a total of 45 collegiate players and 30 international players declared as early entry candidates. On June 16, the withdrawal deadline, 18 early entry candidates withdrew from the draft, leaving 44 collegiate players and 13 international players as the early entry candidates for the draft.
PlayerClass
UCLASophomore
CC of Baltimore CountyFreshman
UCLASophomore
BaylorSophomore
Colorado StateJunior
New Mexico StateSophomore
UNLVJunior
MissouriJunior
Arizona StateSophomore
XavierSophomore
MissouriJunior
ConnecticutJunior
ColoradoJunior
KansasFreshman
SyracuseFreshman
ArizonaFreshman
SyracuseSophomore
Michigan StateSophomore
DukeSophomore
ArizonaJunior
New MexicoJunior
UCLAFreshman
North CarolinaJunior
ClemsonJunior
MichiganSophomore
Oregon StateJunior
LSUJunior
DukeFreshman
Louisiana–LafayetteJunior
KentuckyFreshman
MichiganSophomore
Ohio StateJunior
Clinton JCFreshman
St. John'sSophomore
Oklahoma StateSophomore
UNLVJunior
MichiganSophomore
TennesseeJunior
IndianaFreshman
North Carolina StateSophomore
KansasFreshman
KentuckyFreshman
Thompson Rivers Junior

Player
Brazilsortname|Clint|Capela

Automatically eligible entrants

Players who do not meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:
  • They have completed 4 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 outside of 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:
  • They are least 22 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players born on or before December 31, 1992, are automatically eligible for the 2014 draft.
  • They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team outside of the NBA within the United States, and have played under that contract.
Before the draft, the NBA released a list of D-League players who are automatically eligible for the draft.
Player
Delaware 87ers
Delaware 87ers
Erie BayHawks
Delaware 87ers
Delaware 87ers