Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox sports draft The 2003 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2003, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The NBA announced that 41 college and high school players and a record 31 international players had filed as early-entry candidates for the 2003 NBA draft.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Cleveland Cavaliers, who had a 22.50 percent probability of obtaining the first selection, won the NBA draft lottery on May 22, and Cleveland chairman Gordon Gund said afterward his team would select LeBron James, and they did.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Detroit Pistons and the Denver Nuggets were second and third, respectively. This draft was the first draft to be aired on ESPN after they picked up the license from TNT.
The 2003 draftees represented one of the deepest talent pools in NBA history. The draft contained 15 players who combined for 26 championships. Four of the top five picks are NBA All-Stars and "Redeem Team" Olympic Gold Medalists: Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James.
OverviewEdit
Four of the top five picks of the 2003 draft became NBA All-Stars and "Redeem Team" Olympic Gold Medalists: Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James. Nine players have participated in an All-Star Game. Dwyane Wade was named NBA Finals MVP in 2006 and won NBA championships with the Miami Heat in 2006, 2012 and 2013, as well as the NBA All Star Game MVP in 2010. Boris Diaw won the Most Improved Player Award in 2006, Jason Kapono won the three point shootout in back-to-back years in 2007 and 2008, James Jones won the three point shootout in 2011, Leandro Barbosa won the Sixth Man Award in 2007, Kyle Korver set the NBA record for three point shooting percentage in 2010 (53.6%), and in the 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013 seasons, LeBron James won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, and the NBA Finals MVP in 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2020. Carmelo Anthony won the 2013 NBA scoring title and was the only player in NBA history to win at least three Olympic gold medals<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> until Kevin Durant won his third one in 2021. Zaza Pachulia and David West won NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. Matt Bonner won NBA championships with the San Antonio Spurs in 2007 and 2014. Dahntay Jones and Mo Williams won the NBA championship in 2016 with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Luke Walton won three NBA championships, two as a player with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009 and 2010 and one as an assistant coach with the Warriors in 2015. Chris Bosh left the Toronto Raptors in 2010 as its all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks, double doubles, free throws made and attempted, and minutes played; he went on to win championships with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013.
The 2003 draft class has drawn comparisons to the 1984 and 1996 NBA draft classes<ref name="bestever">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but is also known for the Detroit Pistons' selection of Darko Miličić with the second overall pick over other prospects who went on to have much more success in the league.<ref name="bestever"/> As of 2025, LeBron James is the only remaining active player from the 2003 draft class.
Eleven of the players selected in this draft never played in an NBA game throughout their professional basketball careers. Two of those players were the sole selection of the draft by their respective teams: Malick Badiane (Houston's only pick) and Paccelis Morlende (Philadelphia's only pick).
Draft selectionsEdit
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| PG | Point guard | SG | Shooting guard | SF | Small forward | PF | Power forward | C | Center |
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Notable undrafted playersEdit
Template:Further These players were not selected in the 2003 NBA draft, but have played at least one game in the NBA.
| Player | Position | Nationality | School/club team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Sortname | C | Template:Flagu | Memphis (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | PG | Template:Flagu | Minnesota (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | PG | {{#invoke:flag | Spain}} | Tau Cerámica (Spain) |
| Template:Sortname | SG | Template:Flagu | Notre Dame (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | SG | Template:Flagu | Auburn (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | SF | Template:Flagu | LSU (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | PF | Template:Flagu Template:BIZ |
Fresno State (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | PF | Template:Flagu Template:Flagu |
Fresno State (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | SF/PF | Template:Flagu | Utah (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | PF | Template:Flagu | Utah State (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | SG/SF | Template:NZL | Wisconsin (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | PF | Template:Flagu | NC State (So.) | |
| Template:Sortname | SF | Template:Flagu | Texas Tech (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | SG | Template:Flagu | SMU (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | SG/SF | Template:Flagu | Oklahoma State (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | SF/PF | Template:Flagu | Murray State (Sr.) | |
| Template:Sortname | SF/PF | Template:Flagu | Ball State (Sr.) |
Draft lotteryEdit
| ^ | Denotes the actual lottery result |
| Team | 2002–03 record |
Lottery | Lottery probabilities | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | ||||
| Cleveland Cavaliers | 17–65 | 225 | .225^ | .215 | .178 | .357 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Denver Nuggets | 17–65 | 225 | .225 | .188 | .171^ | .319 | .123 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Toronto Raptors | 24–58 | 157 | .157 | .157 | .156 | .226^ | .265 | .040 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Miami Heat | 25–57 | 120 | .120 | .126 | .133 | .099 | .350^ | .161 | .013 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Los Angeles Clippers | 28–54 | 89 | .089 | .097 | .107 | — | .261 | .360^ | .084 | .004 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Memphis Grizzlies | 28–54 | 64 | .064 | .071^ | .081 | — | — | .440 | .304 | .040 | .001 | — | — | — | — | |
| Chicago Bulls | 30–52 | 44 | .044 | .049 | .058 | — | — | — | .599^ | .232 | .018 | .000 | — | — | — | |
| Atlanta Hawks | 35–47 | 29 | .029 | .022 | .027 | — | — | — | — | .724^ | .197 | .011 | .000 | — | — | |
| New York Knicks | 37-45 | 15 | .015 | .022 | .027 | — | — | — | — | — | .784^ | .143 | .005 | .000 | — | |
| Washington Wizards | 37-45 | 14 | .014 | .021 | .025 | — | — | — | — | — | — | .846^ | .087 | .002 | .000 | |
| Golden State Warriors | 38–44 | 7 | .007 | .009 | .012 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | .907^ | .063 | .001 | |
| Seattle SuperSonics | 40–42 | 6 | .006 | .008 | .010 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | .935^ | .039 | |
| Houston Rockets | 43–39 | 5 | .005 | .007 | .009 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | .960^ | |
Early entrantsEdit
College underclassmenEdit
In terms of underclassmen declaring for this year's draft, the number of players available for entry this year would increase up to 73 after previously being down a bit the previous year. However, it would also see the most withdrawn entries from underclassmen either in college, overseas, or even high school in the case of Charlie Villanueva with 27 total people doing exactly that. As such, there would actually be 46 underclassmen that qualified as such for this year's draft, which would be an overall step down when compared to last year's official number of underclassmen entering the NBA draft. The following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.<ref name=tdr>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Chris Alexander – C, Iowa State (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Carmelo Anthony – F, Syracuse (freshman)
- Template:Flagicon Mario Austin – F, Mississippi State (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Ronald Blackshear – G, Marshall (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Chris Bosh – F, Georgia Tech (freshman)
- Template:Flagicon Lamar Castile – G, CC of Beaver County (sophomore)
- Template:Flagicon Rod Edwards – G, Ouachita Baptist (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Carl English – G, Hawaii (junior)
- Template:Flagicon T. J. Ford – G, Texas (sophomore)
- Template:Flagicon Zack Fray – F, Santa Ana (sophomore)
- Template:Flagicon Jonathan Hargett – G, West Virginia (freshman)
- Template:Flagicon David Hamilton – F, Salem International (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Jarvis Hayes – F/G, Georgia (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Maurice Jackson – F, Texas–Permian (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Richard Jeter – G, Atlanta Metro (sophomore)
- Template:Flagicon Chris Kaman – C, Central Michigan (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Josh Powell – F, NC State (sophomore)
- Template:Flagicon Rick Rickert – F, Minnesota (sophomore)
- Template:Flagicon Luke Ridnour – G, Oregon (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Rob Smith – F, North Carolina Wesleyan (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Michael Sweetney – F, Georgetown (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Dwyane Wade – G, Marquette (junior)
- Template:Flagicon Mo Williams – G, Alabama (sophomore)
- Template:Flagicon Doug Wrenn – F/G, Washington (junior)
High school playersEdit
This would be the ninth 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. However, it would be one of the most famous ones due to the entry of high school phenom LeBron James entering the NBA draft this year, being the second high schooler to be drafted at #1 behind only Kwame Brown back in 2001, as well as being the second high schooler to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award behind Amar'e Stoudemire only a year prior. This draft also saw a high schooler named Charlie Villanueva initially enter for the NBA draft, but withdraw his name and go to college before the draft began. The following high school players successfully applied for early draft entrance.<ref name=tdr />
- Template:Flagicon Ndudi Ebi – F, Westbury Christian School (Houston, Texas)
- Template:Flagicon LeBron James – G, St. Vincent–St. Mary High School (Akron, Ohio)
- Template:Flagicon James Lang – F, Central Park Christian High School (Birmingham, Alabama)
- Template:Flagicon Travis Outlaw – F, Starkville High School (Starkville, Mississippi)
- Template:Flagicon Kendrick Perkins – F, Clifton J. Ozen High School (Beaumont, Texas)
International playersEdit
The following international players successfully applied for early draft entrance.<ref name=tdr />
- Template:Flagicon Malick Badiane – F, Langen (Germany)
- Template:Flagicon Leandro Barbosa – G, Bauru Tilibra (Brazil)
- Template:Flagicon Carlos Delfino – G, Skipper Bologna (Italy)
- Template:Flagicon Boris Diaw – F, Pau-Orthez (France)
- Template:Flagicon Maciej Lampe – F, Universidad Complutense (Spain)
- Template:Flagicon Darko Miličić – F, Hemofarm Vršac (Serbia and Montenegro)
- Template:Flagicon Zaza Pachulia – F/C, Ülker (Turkey)
- Template:Flagicon Aleksandar Pavlović – G/F, Budućnost (Serbia and Montenegro)
- Template:Flagicon Mickaël Piétrus – G, Pau-Orthez (France)
- Template:Flagicon Zoran Planinić – G, Cibona (Croatia)
- Template:Flagicon Sofoklis Schortsanitis – F, Iraklis (Greece)
- Template:Flagicon Nedžad Sinanović – C, Brotnjo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Template:Flagicon Jón Arnór Stefánsson – G, Trier (Germany)
- Template:Flagicon Szymon Szewczyk – F, Braunschweig (Germany)
- Template:Flagicon Remon van de Hare – C/F, FC Barcelona (Spain)
- Template:Flagicon Slavko Vraneš – C, Budućnost (Serbia and Montenegro)
- Template:Flagicon Xue Yuyang – F, Hong Kong Flying Dragons (China)
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
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External linksEdit
- ESPN.com Draft 2003 Template:Webarchive
- Template:Usurped
- {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Template:NBA Drafts Template:NBA Draft history by team Template:2003 NBA draft Template:2003–04 NBA season by team Template:NBA on ABC