Everything to Know About NBA Draft Rules

By Richard Janvrin Contributor Updated: 03 December 2024

Richard Janvrin Contributor

Richard has been writing about sports since he was a teenager. Still, his first professional role came in 2015, covering all things NFL and fantasy football-related. From there, in December 2018, he started in the sports betting industry, covering sportsbook reviews before arriving to where he is today. 

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NBA Draft Rules

The 2024 NBA Draft marked the 78th annual one. This draft spanned two nights and had 58 total selections across two rounds. Two picks were forfeited for tampering violations. The default draft typically has 60 picks, including two picks per team.

Not only does the draft provide teams with a way to add more talent to their team, but it’s a prime opportunity for NBA online betting as you can wager on who will go No. 1 overall, which player will go to specific teams, and more.

While we can watch the draft and see who gets taken, what about everything behind the scenes with NBA Draft rules and regulations?

I’ll explore some of these here, including NBA Draft eligibility rules, the draft lottery, how the pick order is determined, how to enter the NBA Draft, and more.

Let’s learn about all things NBA Draft.

Eligibility Requirements
Draft Lottery Rules
Pick Order
International Players

Eligibility Requirements

In the past, players could enter the NBA Draft right out of high school. However, that’s no longer the case.

Numerous markers must be met before a player is eligible to be in the draftable pool. Check out these NBA Draft eligibility rules:

Players must be 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft.
There must be at least one season since the player last graduated high school.
The player must declare his eligibility 60 days before the NBA Draft.
Players are automatically deemed eligible if they complete their college eligibility. International players are also eligible if they turn 22 by December 31 of that calendar year.
If a player signs a professional contract with another country, they’re eligible to enroll at 19 as one season has passed since high school.
Playing college basketball isn’t a requirement.
A player is eligible to enroll in only two drafts.
A player will lose their college eligibility if they declare for the draft twice or if they hire an agent.
A player can withdraw from the NBA Draft up to 10 days after the combine and retain college eligibility if they haven’t signed with an agent.
If a player is invited to the NBA Draft Combine, they must attend to be deemed eligible for the NBA Draft.
One alternative method of playing college basketball is the NBA G-League Ignite. After one year of playing for Ignite, players become eligible for the NBA Draft.

Draft Lottery Rules

The NBA Draft Lottery is a system that assigns picks to the top 14 picks. This is done to help protect the NBA from teams tanking to purposefully lose games and gain a top draft choice.

Each team is assigned odds at being picked for the No. 1 overall pick.

However, if a team finishes with a losing record,it will pick no later than fifth. Before the 2019 changes, teams with the worst record would pick no later than fourth.

The odds for the team with the worst record are 14%, down from 25%. The odds for the second-worst team were 19.9%, down from 14%.

Here’s how these NBA Draft requirements for the lottery work:

There are 14 ping pong balls placed in a glass drone.
There will be four ping pong balls drawn.
The balls are mixed for 20 seconds within the drone.
Balls are then selected in 10-second intervals.
There are 1,001 possible combinations with 14 balls and picking four of them.
Of the 1,001 combinations, 1,000 of the combinations have been distributed to each team.

Here’s the default percentage breakdown for each team:

Team 1: 14.0%
Team 2: 14.0%
Team 3: 14.0%
Team 4: 12.5%
Team 5: 10.5%
Team 6: 9.0%
Team 7: 7.5%
Team 8: 6.0%
Team 9: 4.5%
Team 10: 3.0%
Team 11: 2.0%
Team 12: 1.5%
Team 13: 1.0%
Team 14: 0.5%
So, the top three teams each received 140 possible combinations. As for Team 14, they received five combinations.
Once the first combination is drawn, it’ll be compared to what team owns that combination and that team will receive the first pick.
This process repeats for the next three picks.
Per NBA Draft procedures, picks 5-14 are then based on regular season wins and loss records, ordered from worst to best.
If after a pick a combination is drawn that is owned by a team already chosen, they’ll reset the balls in the done and start over.

Pick Order

As mentioned above, the first four picks are chosen via the lottery system. From there, picks 5-14 are assigned based on the win-loss record, with the worst team being assigned a higher position.

The order of picks 15-60 is also determined based on regular season win-loss records, including the lottery teams in the second round.

All first-round picks receive guaranteed contracts, while second-round selections don’t.

If a player goes undrafted, they can sign with any NBA team. They can also participate in the NBA Summer League, sign two-way contracts with teams, or join the NBA G-League.

Teams can trade their draft picks up to the next seven drafts in the future.

International Players

Players draw the “international players” tag based on how the Collective Bargaining Agreement defines them within the NBA Draft rules.

The criteria consist of the following:

The player permanently resides outside the United States for at least three years before the draft and plays basketball outside the United States.
They have never enrolled in a United States college basketball program.
Did not compete in high school basketball in the United States.