The 1984 NBA Draft was the 38th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held at the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on June 19, 1984 before the 1984–85 season.^[1] The draft was broadcast in the United States on the USA Network.^[2] In this draft, 23 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The Houston Rockets won the coin flip and were awarded the first overall pick, while the Portland Trail Blazers, who obtained the Indiana Pacers' first-round pick in a trade, were awarded the second pick.^[3] The remaining first-round picks and the subsequent rounds were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. The Cleveland Cavaliers were awarded an extra first-round draft pick as compensation for the draft picks traded away by their previous owner, Ted Stepien.^[4] A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was automatically eligible for selection. Before the draft, five college underclassmen announced that they would leave college early and would be eligible for selection.^[5] Prior to the draft, the San Diego Clippers relocated to Los Angeles, California and became the Los Angeles Clippers.^[6] The draft consisted of 10 rounds comprising the selection of 228 players. This draft was the last to be held before the creation of the Draft Lottery in 1985.^[7]

Selection[link]

The Houston Rockets used their first pick to draft Hakeem Olajuwon (then known as Akeem Olajuwon),^[8] a junior center from the University of Houston. The Nigerian-born Olajuwon became the second foreign-born player to be drafted first overall, after Mychal Thompson from the Bahamas in 1978.^[9] The Portland Trail Blazers used the second overall pick to draft Sam Bowie from the University of Kentucky. The Chicago Bulls used the third pick to draft Naismith and Wooden College Player of the Year Michael Jordan from the University of North Carolina.^[1][10] Jordan went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award and was also selected to the All-NBA Second Team in his rookie season.^[11] Jordan's teammate at North Carolina, Sam Perkins, was drafted fourth by the Dallas Mavericks. Charles Barkley, a junior forward from Auburn University, was drafted fifth by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Olajuwon, Jordan and Barkley, along with the 16th pick John Stockton, have been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame.^[12] They were also named in the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History list announced at the league's 50th anniversary in 1996.^[13] Olajuwon's achievements include two NBA championships, two Finals Most Valuable Player Awards, one Most Valuable Player Award, one Defensive Player of the Year Award, twelve All-NBA Team selections, twelve All-Star Game selections and nine All-Defensive Team selections. Olajuwon retired as the all–time league leader in total blocked shots with 3,830 blocks.^[14] The third pick, Jordan, achieved even greater success than Olajuwon. He won six NBA championships, six Finals Most Valuable Player Awards, five Most Valuable Player Awards, one Defensive Player of the Year Award, eleven All-NBA Team selections, fourteen All-Star Game selections and nine All-Defensive Team selections.^[11] Barkley and Stockton never won an NBA championship, but both players received numerous awards and honors. Barkley won the Most Valuable Player in 1993 and was selected to eleven All-NBA Teams and eleven All-Star Games.^[15] Stockton was selected to eleven All-NBA Teams, ten All-Star Games and five All-Defensive Teams before retiring as the all–time league leader in assists and steals.^[16] Alvin Robertson, the seventh pick, is the only other player from this draft who has won annual NBA awards as a player; he won both the Defensive Player of the Year Award and the Most Improved Player Award in 1986. He was also selected to one All-NBA Team, four All-Star Games and six consecutive All-Defensive Teams.^[17] Two other players from this draft, ninth pick Otis Thorpe and eleventh pick Kevin Willis, were also selected to one All-Star Game each.^[18] Willis also had one selection to the All-NBA Team.^[19] Rick Carlisle, the 70th pick, became a coach after ending his playing career and won the Coach of the Year Award in 2002 while coaching the Detroit Pistons. In 2011, he coached the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA Championship. ^[20]

The 1984 draft class is considered to be one of the best in NBA history as it produced four Hall of Famers and seven All-Stars.^{[21][22][23][24]} However, it was marked by the Blazers' selection of Sam Bowie, considered as one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history.^{[25][26][27][28][29]} It is believed that the Blazers picked Bowie over Michael Jordan because they already had an All Star shooting guard in Jim Paxson and a young shooting guard in Clyde Drexler, whom they drafted in the 1983 Draft.^[11][30] Although Drexler went on to have a successful career, Bowie's career was cut short by injuries; he had missed two of the past three seasons in his college career as well.^[10] Despite having a 10-year career in the NBA and averaging 10.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, Bowie's career was interrupted by five leg surgeries, which limited him to 139 games in 5 years with the Blazers.^[31][32]

Brazilian Oscar Schmidt was drafted with the 131st pick in the sixth round by the New Jersey Nets. However, Schmidt turned down the offers to play in the NBA and stayed to play in Italy and later in Brazil. He played in five Olympics and was the top scorer in three of them. He finished his career with 49,703 points with various clubs and the Brazilian national team, more than the NBA's career scoring leader, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who scored 38,387 points in his NBA career.^[33] In 2010, International Basketball Federation (FIBA) honored Schmidt with an induction to the FIBA Hall of Fame.^[34] University of Houston track and field athlete Carl Lewis, who had never played college basketball, was drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the 208th pick in the 10th round.^[1][35] Lewis stayed with his athletics career and went on to win nine Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships gold medals.^[36] In the fifth round, the Portland Trail Blazers drafted Mike Whitmarsh, who starred for the University of San Diego in both basketball and volleyball, with the 111th pick. Whitmarsh played professional basketball in Germany for three years, but never played in the NBA. He then left basketball to play beach volleyball, where he achieved greater success, including a silver medal in the Olympics.^[37]

Key[link]

Draft[link]

Hakeem Olajuwon was selected first overall by the Houston Rockets. Michael Jordan was selected third overall by the Chicago Bulls. Sam Perkins was selected fourth overall by the Dallas Mavericks. Charles Barkley was selected fifth overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. John Stockton was selected 16th overall by the Utah Jazz.

Round	Pick	Player	Pos.	Nationality	Team	School/club team
1	1	Olajuwon, AkeemAkeem Olajuwon^ (now Hakeem Olajuwon)1[›]	C	Nigeria  United States2[›]	Houston Rockets	Houston (Jr.)
1	2	Bowie, SamSam Bowie	F/C	United States	Portland Trail Blazers (from Indiana)[d]	Kentucky (Sr.)
1	3	Jordan, MichaelMichael Jordan^	G/F	United States	Chicago Bulls	North Carolina (Jr.)
1	4	Perkins, SamSam Perkins	F/C	United States	Dallas Mavericks (from Cleveland)[e]	North Carolina (Sr.)
1	5	Barkley, CharlesCharles Barkley^	F	United States	Philadelphia 76ers (from L.A. Clippers)[f]	Auburn (Jr.)
1	6	Turpin, MelvinMelvin Turpin	C	United States	Washington Bullets (traded to Cleveland)[a]	Kentucky (Sr.)
1	7	Robertson, AlvinAlvin Robertson*	G	United States	San Antonio Spurs	Arkansas (Sr.)
1	8	Gordon, LancasterLancaster Gordon	G	United States	Los Angeles Clippers (from Golden State)[g]	Louisville (Sr.)
1	9	Thorpe, OtisOtis Thorpe+	F/C	United States	Kansas City Kings	Providence (Sr.)
1	10	Wood, LeonLeon Wood	G	United States	Philadelphia 76ers (from Denver)[h]	Cal State Fullerton (Sr.)
1	11	Willis, KevinKevin Willis*	F/C	United States	Atlanta Hawks	Michigan State (Sr.)
1	12	McCormick, TimTim McCormick	C	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers3[›] (traded to Seattle)[a]	Michigan (Sr.)4[›]
1	13	Humphries, JayJay Humphries	G	United States	Phoenix Suns	Colorado (Sr.)
1	14	Cage, MichaelMichael Cage	F/C	United States	Los Angeles Clippers (from Seattle)[i]	San Diego State (Sr.)
1	15	Stansbury, TerenceTerence Stansbury	G	United States	Dallas Mavericks	Temple (Sr.)
1	16	Stockton, JohnJohn Stockton^	G	United States	Utah Jazz	Gonzaga (Sr.)
1	17	Turner, JeffJeff Turner	F/C	United States	New Jersey Nets	Vanderbilt (Sr.)
1	18	Fleming, VernVern Fleming	G	United States	Indiana Pacers (from New York)[j]	Georgia (Sr.)
1	19	Thompson, BernardBernard Thompson	G/F	United States	Portland Trail Blazers	Fresno State (Sr.)
1	20	Campbell, TonyTony Campbell	G/F	United States	Detroit Pistons	Ohio State (Sr.)
1	21	Fields, KennyKenny Fields	G/F	United States	Milwaukee Bucks	UCLA (Sr.)
1	22	Sewell, TomTom Sewell	G	United States	Philadelphia 76ers (traded to Washington)[b]	Lamar (Sr.)
1	23	Jones, EarlEarl Jones	C	United States	Los Angeles Lakers	District of Columbia (Sr.)
1	24	Young, MichaelMichael Young	G/F	United States	Boston Celtics	Houston (Sr.)
2	25	Durrant, DevinDevin Durrant	F	United States	Indiana Pacers	Brigham Young (Sr.)
2	26	Fleming, VictorVictor Fleming#	G	United States	Portland Trail Blazers (from Chicago via Indiana)[k]	Xavier (Sr.)
2	27	Anderson, RonRon Anderson	G/F	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers	Fresno State (Sr.)
2	28	Blackwell, CoryCory Blackwell	F	United States	Seattle SuperSonics (from Houston)[l]	Wisconsin (Jr.)
2	29	Gray, StuartStuart Gray	F/C	United States  Panama5[›]	Indiana Pacers (from L.A. Clippers via Philadelphia)[m]	UCLA (Jr.)
2	30	Burtt, SteveSteve Burtt	G	United States	Golden State Warriors (from Washington)[n]	Iona (Sr.)
2	31	Murphy, JayJay Murphy	F	United States	Golden State Warriors (traded to L.A. Clippers)[c]	Boston College (Sr.)
2	32	Turner, EricEric Turner#	G	United States	Detroit Pistons (from San Antonio)[o]	Michigan (Jr.)
2	33	Colter, SteveSteve Colter	G	United States	Portland Trail Blazers (from Denver)[p]	New Mexico State (Sr.)
2	34	Costner, TonyTony Costner#	C	United States	Washington Bullets (from Kansas City via Detroit and Atlanta)[q]	Saint Joseph's (Sr.)
2	35	Wilson, OthellOthell Wilson	G	United States	Golden State Warriors (from Atlanta)[r]	Virginia (Sr.)
2	36	Jones, CharlesCharles Jones	F	United States	Phoenix Suns	Louisville (Sr.)
2	37	Coleman, BenBen Coleman	F	United States	Chicago Bulls (from Seattle via Atlanta and Kansas City)[s]	Maryland (Sr.)
2	38	Sitton, CharlieCharlie Sitton	F	United States	Dallas Mavericks	Oregon State (Sr.)
2	39	Young, DannyDanny Young	G	United States	Seattle SuperSonics (from New Jersey)[t]	Wake Forest (Sr.)
2	40	Teachey, AnthonyAnthony Teachey#	F	United States	Dallas Mavericks (from Utah)[u]	Wake Forest (Sr.)
2	41	Sluby, TomTom Sluby	G	United States	Dallas Mavericks (from New York via New Jersey)[v]	Notre Dame (Sr.)
2	42	White, WillieWillie White	G	United States	Denver Nuggets (from Portland)[w]	Tennessee-Chattanooga (Sr.)
2	43	Wiltjer, GregGreg Wiltjer#	C	Canada	Chicago Bulls (from Detroit via Indiana and Kansas City)[x]	Victoria (Canada) (Sr.)
2	44	Reynolds, FredFred Reynolds#	F	United States	Washington Bullets (from Milwaukee)[y]	Texas-El Paso (Sr.)
2	45	Plummer, GaryGary Plummer	F/C	United States	Golden State Warriors (from Philadelphia 76ers)[z]	Boston University (Sr.)
2	46	Kersey, JeromeJerome Kersey	F	United States	Portland Trail Blazers (from L.A. Lakers)[aa]	Longwood (Sr.)
2	47	Williams, RonnieRonnie Williams#	F	United States	Boston Celtics	Florida (Sr.)

Other picks[link]

The following list includes other draft picks who have appeared in at least one NBA game.

Rick Carlisle was selected in the third round by the Boston Celtics.

Round	Pick	Player	Pos.	Nationality	Team	School/club team
3	50	McDonald, BenBen McDonald	F	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers	UC Irvine (Sr.)
3	51	Petersen, JimJim Petersen	F/C	United States	Houston Rockets	Minnesota (Sr.)
3	57	Binion, JoeJoe Binion	F	United States	San Antonio Spurs (from Denver)[ab]	North Carolina A&T (Sr.)
3	61	Cross, JeffJeff Cross	F	United States	Dallas Mavericks	Maine (Sr.)
3	62	Pope, DavidDavid Pope	F	United States	Utah Jazz	Norfolk State (Sr.)
3	68	Graves, ButchButch Graves	G	United States	Philadelphia 76ers	Yale (Sr.)
3	70	Carlisle, RickRick Carlisle	G	United States	Boston Celtics	Virginia (Sr.)
4	71	Jackson, RalphRalph Jackson	G	United States	Indiana Pacers	UCLA (Sr.)
4	76	Grandholm, JimJim Grandholm	F	United States	Washington Bullets	South Florida (Sr.)
4	80	Henry, CarlCarl Henry	G	United States	Kansas City Kings	Kansas (Sr.)
4	86	Rowinski, JimJim Rowinski	F	United States	Utah Jazz	Purdue (Sr.)
4	87	Thornton, BobBob Thornton	F/C	United States	New York Knicks	UC Irvine (Sr.)
4	90	Jones, OzellOzell Jones	F/C	United States	San Antonio Spurs (from Milwaukee)[ac]	Cal State Fullerton (Sr.)
6	120	Singleton, McKinleyMcKinley Singleton	G	United States	Milwaukee Bucks (from Houston)[ad]	Alabama-Birmingham (Sr.)
6	133	Wilkins, Eddie LeeEddie Lee Wilkins	F/C	United States	New York Knicks	Gardner–Webb (Sr.)
7	140	Edelin, KentonKenton Edelin	F	United States	Indiana Pacers	Virginia (Sr.)
7	156	Bannister, KenKen Bannister	F/C	United States	New York Knicks	St. Augustine's (Sr.)
9	185	Martin, BrianBrian Martin	F	United States	Indiana Pacers	Kansas (Sr.)

Trades involving draft picks[link]

Draft-day trades[link]

The following trades involving drafted players were made on the day of the draft.^[1]

• ^{a 1 2} In a three-team trade, Cleveland acquired the draft rights to sixth pick Melvin Turpin from Washington, Washington acquired Cliff Robinson from Cleveland and Gus Williams from Seattle, and Seattle acquired Ricky Sobers from Washington and the draft rights to 12th pick Tim McCormick from Cleveland.

• ^b Washington acquired the draft rights to 22nd pick Tom Sewell from Philadelphia in exchange for a 1988 first-round pick.

• ^c The L.A. Clippers acquired the draft rights to 31st pick Jay Murphy from Golden State in exchange for Jerome Whitehead.

Pre-draft trades[link]

Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of picks between the teams.

• ^d On June 5, 1981, Portland acquired a first-round pick from Indiana in exchange for Tom Owens.^[38] Portland used the pick to draft Sam Bowie.

• ^e On September 16, 1980, Dallas acquired a first-round pick from Cleveland in exchange for Mike Bratz.^[39] Dallas used the pick to draft Sam Perkins.

• ^f On October 12, 1978, Philadelphia acquired a first-round pick from the L.A. Clippers (as San Diego) in exchange for World B. Free.^[40][41] Philadelphia used the pick to draft Charles Barkley.

• ^g On August 28, 1980, the L.A. Clippers (as San Diego) acquired Phil Smith and a first-round pick from Golden State in exchange for World B. Free.^[40][41] The L.A. Clippers used the pick to draft Lancaster Gordon.

• ^h On August 16, 1978, Philadelphia acquired Bobby Jones, Ralph Simpson and a first-round pick from Denver in exchange for George McGinnis and a 1978 first-round pick.^[42] Philadelphia used the pick to draft Leon Wood.

• ⁱ On August 18, 1983, the L.A. Clippers (as San Diego) acquired James Donaldson, Greg Kelser, Mark Radford, a first-round pick and a 1985 second-round pick from Seattle in exchange for Tom Chambers, Al Wood, a third-round pick and a 1987 second-round pick.^[40][43] The L.A. Clippers used the pick to draft Michael Cage.

• ^j On September 17, 1983, Indiana acquired Vince Taylor and a first-round pick from New York in a three-team trade with New York and Kansas City.^[44] Indiana used the pick to draft Vern Fleming.

• ^k On August 18, 1983, Portland acquired a second-round pick from Indiana in exchange for Granville Waiters.^[45] Previously, Indiana acquired the draft rights to Sidney Lowe and the pick on June 28, 1983 from Chicago in exchange for the draft rights to Mitchell Wiggins.^[46] Portland used the pick to draft Victor Fleming.

• ^l On October 5, 1982, Seattle acquired a second-round pick from Houston in exchange for Wally Walker.^[47] Seattle used the pick to draft Cory Blackwell.

• ^m On February 15, 1983, Indiana acquired Russ Schoene a second-round pick and a 1983 first-round pick from Philadelphia in exchange for Clemon Johnson and a third-round pick.^[48] Previously, Philadelphia acquired the pick and a 1983 fourth-round pick on October 27, 1982 from the L.A. Clippers (as San Diego) in exchange for Lionel Hollins.^[40][49] Indiana used the pick to draft Stuart Gray.

• ⁿ On October 19, 1981, Golden State acquired 1982 and 1984 second-round picks from Washington in exchange for John Lucas.^[50] Golden State used the pick to draft Steve Burtt.

• ^o On February 10, 1983, Detroit a second-round pick and a 1985 third-round pick from San Antonio in exchange for Edgar Jones.^[51][52] Detroit used the pick to draft Eric Turner.

• ^p On August 15, 1980, Portland acquired a second-round pick and a 1983 first-round pick from Denver in exchange for T. R. Dunn and a 1983 first-round pick.^[53] Portland used the pick to draft Steve Colter.

• ^q On July 5, 1983, Washington acquired Tom McMillen and a second-round pick from Atlanta in exchange for Randy Wittman.^[54] Previously, Atlanta acquired the pick and a 1985 second-round pick on February 13, 1983 from Detroit in a three-team trade with Detroit and Seattle.^[51][55] Previously, Detroit acquired the pick and a 1982 second-round pick on August 26, 1981 from Kansas City in exchange for Larry Drew.^[51][56] Washington used the pick to draft Tony Costner.

• ^r On February 15, 1983, Golden State acquired a second-round pick from Atlanta in exchange for Rickey Brown.^[57] Golden State used the pick to draft Othell Wilson.

• ^s On June 28, 1983, Chicago acquired the draft rights to Ennis Whatley, the draft rights to Chris McNealy and a second-round pick from Kansas City in exchange for Mark Olberding and the draft rights to Larry Micheaux.^[58] Previously, Kansas City acquired the pick on June 30, 1982 from Atlanta in exchange for the draft rights to Jim Johnstone.^[59] Previously, Atlanta acquired the pick and a 1983 second-round pick on December 2, 1980 from Seattle in exchange for Armond Hill.^[60] Chicago used the pick to draft Ben Coleman.

• ^t On November 25, 1981, Seattle acquired Ray Tolbert and a second-round pick from New Jersey in exchange for James Bailey.^[61] Seattle used the pick to draft Danny Young.

• ^u On September 11, 1980, Dallas acquired a second-round pick and a 1983 second-round pick from Utah in exchange for Billy McKinney.^[62] Dallas used the pick to draft Anthony Teachey.

• ^v On August 12, 1983, Dallas acquired Foots Walker, a second-round pick and a 1985 first-round pick from New Jersey in exchange for Kelvin Ransey.^[63] Previously, New Jersey acquired the second-round pick on June 22, 1983 from New York in exchange for Len Elmore.^[64] Dallas used the pick to draft Tom Sluby.

• ^w On June 7, 1984, Denver acquired Wayne Cooper, Lafayette Lever, Calvin Natt, a second-round pick and a 1985 first-round pick from Portland in exchange for Kiki Vandeweghe.^[65] Denver used the pick to draft Willie White.

• ^x On February 15, 1984, Chicago acquired Steve Johnson, a second-round pick and two 1985 second-round picks from Kansas City in exchange for Reggie Theus.^[66] Previously, Kansas City acquired Billy Knight and the pick on September 17, 1983 from Indiana in a three-team trade with Indiana and New York.^[67][68] Previously, Indiana acquired the pick on September 22, 1982 from Detroit in exchange for Tom Owens.^[38] Chicago used the pick to draft Greg Wiltjer.

• ^y On September 30, 1983, Washington acquired a second-round pick from Milwaukee in exchange for Kevin Grevey.^[69] Washington used the pick to draft Fred Raynolds.

• ^z On November 12, 1983, Golden State acquired a second-round pick from Philadelphia in exchange for Sam Williams.^[70] Golden State used the pick to draft Gary Plummer.

• ^aa On October 8, 1980, Portland acquired a second-round pick from the L.A. Lakers in exchange for Jim Brewer.^[71] Portland used the pick to draft Jerome Kersey.

• ^ab On January 21, 1984, San Antonio acquired a third-round pick from Denver in exchange for Keith Edmonson.^[72] San Antonio used the pick to draft Joe Binion.

• ^ac On March 8, 1984, San Antonio acquired a fourth-round pick from Milwaukee as compensation for the signing of Mike Dunleavy as a free agent.^[73] San Antonio used the pick to draft Ozell Jones.

• ^ad On October 5, 1983, Milwaukee acquired a sixth-round pick from Houston as compensation for the signing of Phil Ford as a free agent.^[74] Milwaukee used the pick to draft McKinley Singleton.

Notes[link]

^ 1: When Hakeem Olajuwon first arrived in the United States in 1981, his first name was incorrectly spelled as "Akeem". He used that spelling until March 9, 1991, when he announced that he would add an H and changed it to "Hakeem", the original Arabic spelling of his name.^[8]
^ 2: Hakeem Olajuwon was born in Nigeria, but became a naturalized United States citizen in 1993. He has represented the United States national team.^[14]
^ 3: As compensation for the first-round draft picks traded away by the previous owner, Ted Stepien, the Cleveland Cavaliers were awarded extra first-round draft picks in the 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1986 drafts in exchange for cash.^[4][75]
^ 4: Even though Tim McCormick was a senior, he had one year of college eligibility remaining and thus had to apply for early entry.^[5]
^ 5: Stuart Gray was born in the Panama Canal Zone which was controlled by the United States. He has represented Panama national team.^[76]

References[link]

General

Specific