1996 NBA draft

was selected 1st overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. was selected 2nd overall by the Toronto Raptors. was selected 3rd overall by the Vancouver Grizzlies. was selected 4th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks (traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves). was selected 5th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves (traded to the Milwaukee Bucks). was selected 6th overall by the Boston Celtics. was selected 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets (traded to the Los Angeles Lakers). was selected 14th overall by the Sacramento Kings. was selected 15th overall by the Phoenix Suns. was selected 17th overall by the Portland Trail Blazers. was selected 20th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. }* ==Notable undrafted players==

, not selected in the draft, had a successful career including 4 All-Star selections, and became the first undrafted NBA player of the modern era to be elected to the Hall of Fame. The following are undrafted players of the 1996 NBA Draft but later played in the NBA. ==Early entrants==

College underclassmen This year would officially see a steep climb up of the number of underclassmen declaring their entry into the NBA. While previous years starting in 1971 would see a relatively small amount of college underclassmen alongside overseas and even high school players not only officially declare their entry to the draft, but also sticking with it, this year saw an official total of 42 different players that qualified as underclassmen see an initial entry into the NBA draft. However, six of these players (those being the Nigerian born Sunday Adebayo from the University of Arkansas, Carlos Knox from IUPUI, Terquin Mott from Coppin State University, Mark Sanford from the University of Washington, Jess Settles from the University of Iowa, and Kebu Stewart from Cal State Bakersfield) would ultimately withdraw their initial entry into this year's NBA draft, leaving 29 players that declared for the NBA draft as proper college underclassmen, three high school players (including Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal) entering the NBA draft as high school seniors, three proper international players (including the first two teammates from the same team) entering directly from overseas play, and one player named Priest Lauderdale previously leaving Central State University to play for the Peristeri B.C. in Greece for a grand total of 36 players that would qualify as underclassmen. That being said, the following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance. • Shareef Abdur-Rahim – F, California (freshman) • Ray Allen – G, Connecticut (junior) • Marcus Camby – C, Massachusetts (junior) • Erick Dampier – C, Mississippi State (junior) • Randy Edney – C, Mount St. Mary's (junior) • Eric Gingold – C, Williams (junior) • LeMarcus Golden – G, Memphis (junior) • Ronnie Henderson – G, LSU (junior) • Allen Iverson – G, Georgetown (sophomore) • Willie Jackson – F, Lawson CC (freshman) • Dontae' Jones – F, Mississippi State (junior) • Chris Kingsbury – G, Iowa (junior) • Idris Lee – G, Mount Senario (junior) • Randy Livingston – G, LSU (sophomore) • Michael Lloyd – G, Auburn Montgomery (junior) • Stephon Marbury – G, Georgia Tech (freshman) • Richard Matienzo – F, Miami Dade (freshman) • Dut Mayar Madut – C, Frank Phillips (freshman) • Jeff McInnis – G, North Carolina (junior) • Chris Nurse – F, Delaware State (junior) • Jason Osborne – F, Louisville (junior) • Jessie Pate – G, Arkansas (junior) • Vitaly Potapenko – F/C, Wright State (junior) • Darnell Robinson – F/C, Arkansas (junior) • Greg Simpson – G, West Virginia (junior) • Kevin Simpson – G, Dixie (sophomore) • Antoine Walker – F, Kentucky (sophomore) • Samaki Walker – F, Louisville (sophomore) • Lorenzen Wright – F, Memphis (sophomore) High school players This year marked the second year in a row where high school players would be allowed entry into the NBA directly from high school after previously not allowing high schoolers to enter the NBA draft directly since 1975. The following high school players successfully applied for early draft entrance. • Kobe Bryant – G, Lower Merion HS (Lower Merion, Pennsylvania) • Taj McDavid – G, Palmetto HS (Williamston, South Carolina) • Jermaine O'Neal – F, Eau Claire HS (Columbia, South Carolina) International players This year marked the first time that international teammates would declare their entry into the NBA draft simultaneously. The following international players successfully applied for early draft entrance. • Zydrunas Ilgauskas – C, Atletas Kaunas (Lithuania) • Efthimios Rentzias – F/C, P.A.O.K. B.C. (Greece) • Peja Stojaković – F, P.A.O.K. B.C. (Greece) Other eligible players ==Invited attendees==

The 1996 NBA draft is considered to be the nineteenth 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 somewhere within the Continental Airlines Arena), 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. 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 David Stern, the NBA's commissioner at the time. 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 19 prospects at the time. Despite the high number of invites and successful draft prospects involved for this year's draft, there would still be some notable absences to not be invited for this year's draft in Shareef Abdur-Rahim from the University of California, Jermaine O'Neal from Eau Claire High School in South Carolina, and arguably Ben Wallace from Virginia Union University. With that in mind, the following players were invited to attend this year's draft festivities live and in person. • Ray Allen – SG, Connecticut • Kobe Bryant – SG, Lower Merion High School (Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania) • Marcus Camby – C, Massachusetts • Erick Dampier – C, Mississippi State • Todd Fuller – C, North Carolina State • Žydrūnas Ilgauskas – C, Atletas Kaunas (Lithuania) • Allen Iverson – PG, Georgetown • Kerry Kittles – SG, Villanova • Stephon Marbury – PG, Georgia Tech • Walter McCarty – SF/PF, Kentucky • / Steve Nash – PG, Santa Clara • Vitaly Potapenko – C, Wright State • Roy Rogers – PF, Alabama • / Predrag "Peja" Stojaković – SF, P.A.O.K. B.C. (Greece) • Antoine Walker – SF/PF, Kentucky • Samaki Walker – PF/C, Louisville • John Wallace – SF, Syracuse • Jerome Williams – PF, Georgetown • Lorenzen Wright – C, Memphis ==See also==