1989 NBA draft
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox sports draft The 1989 NBA draft took place on June 27, 1989, in New York City. Despite eight of the top ten picks being considered busts, including the first two picks Pervis Ellison and Danny Ferry, the draft produced many talented players such as Shawn Kemp, Glen Rice, Sean Elliott, Nick Anderson, Dana Barros, Tim Hardaway, Vlade Divac, Clifford Robinson, B. J. Armstrong and Mookie Blaylock.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NBA Past Drafts - RealGM">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The draft was reduced from three rounds in the previous year to the two-round format that is still in use to the present day.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NBA Past Drafts - RealGM"/> As a result, NBA drafts from this season until 1995 produced the lowest number of total draft picks selected at 54 overall selections.
This was the first draft for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic, prior to their inaugural season. This was also the first draft televised prime time on U.S. national television.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Draft selectionsEdit
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| PG | Point guard | SG | Shooting guard | SF | Small forward | PF | Power forward | C | Center |
Notable undrafted playersEdit
Template:Further These players were not selected in the 1989 draft but played at least one game in the NBA.
Early entrantsEdit
College underclassmenEdit
For the seventh year in a row and the eleventh time in twelve years, no college underclassman would withdraw their entry into the NBA draft. Not only that, but this would be the fourth year in a row where a player that qualified for the status of a "college underclassman" would be playing professional basketball overseas, with the French-born Rudy Bourgarel playing for the Boulogne-Levallois in France after leaving Marist College. In addition to that, this would also be the first year where an international player would be considered a direct underclassman to participate in an NBA draft, with Vlade Divac from the KK Partizan Belgrade of the Eastern Bloc nation known as SFR Yugoslavia (now since separated, with Divac representing Serbia) being the first ever international underclassman to be taken directly from an overseas team without previously going to an American college or playing for any prior American institution. Including those two players and Andrew Gaze, who had previously played in Australia for multiple years before playing only one season at Seton Hall University while being over the age of 22 by that time, the number of underclassmen would officially be considered a grand total of fourteen players instead of eleven (or twelve including Gaze). Regardless, the following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.<ref name=tdr>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Nick Anderson – G, Illinois (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Martin Den Hengst – C, Sheridan (freshman)
- Template:Flagicon Jay Edwards – G, Indiana (sophomore)
- Template:Flagicon Andrew Gaze – Seton Hall (freshman)
- Template:Flagicon Benny Green – G, Tennessee–Chattanooga (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Shawn Kemp – F, Trinity Valley CC (freshman)
- Template:Flagicon Toney Mack – G, Georgia (junior)
- Template:Flagicon J. R. Reid – F, North Carolina (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Maurice Selvin – G, Puget Sound (sophomore)
- Template:Flagicon Alex Soyebo – C, Northland Pioneer (freshman)
- Template:Flagicon Johnny Steptoe – F, Southern (sophomore)
- Template:Flagicon Richard Whitmore – G, Brown (junior)
International playersEdit
This would be the first time in NBA history where an international born and raised player would be considered an underclassman in an NBA draft. The following international player successfully applied for early draft entrance.<ref name=tdr />
Other eligible playersEdit
This would be the fourth year in a row with at least one player that previously played in college entering the NBA draft as an underclassman. It was also the second year in a row where a player would qualify as an eligible underclassman for the NBA draft while previously playing for a French-based team in order to do so.
| Player | Template:Tooltip | Note | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Flagicon Rudy Bourgarel | Boulogne-Levallois (France) | Left Marist in 1988; playing professionally since the 1988–89 season | <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
NotesEdit
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
Template:NBA Drafts Template:NBA Draft history by team Template:1989 NBA draft Template:1989–90 NBA season by team Template:NBA on TBS