1982 NBA Draft

The 1982 NBA Draft produced two future Basketball Hall of Famers in James Worthy and Dominique Wilkins, along with a deep collection of longtime NBA players. Seven members of the class became NBA All-Stars: Worthy, Wilkins, Terry Cummings, Mark Eaton, Sleepy Floyd, Fat Lever and Ricky Pierce.

The draft was unusual because the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers owned the first overall selection. Los Angeles had acquired Cleveland's 1982 first-round pick in a 1979 trade and used it to add Worthy to a championship roster that already included Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The Utah Jazz selected Dominique Wilkins third overall but traded him to the Atlanta Hawks before his rookie season. Wilkins became one of the NBA's premier scorers and one of the most recognizable players of the 1980s and early 1990s.

All 225 player selections are preserved below. Houston and Seattle passed during the ninth round; those passes are shown separately and do not receive selection numbers.

James Worthy: The defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers selected North Carolina forward James Worthy first overall. Worthy became a seven-time NBA All-Star, won three championships with the Lakers and was named MVP of the 1988 NBA Finals.

How the champion Lakers picked first: Los Angeles owned Cleveland's first-round selection because of a 1979 trade in which the Cavaliers acquired Don Ford and a later draft choice from the Lakers. Cleveland's poor 1981-82 record turned the traded pick into the first overall selection.

Dominique Wilkins: Utah selected Georgia forward Dominique Wilkins third overall. The Jazz subsequently traded his rights to Atlanta, where Wilkins became known as the "Human Highlight Film" and developed into one of the greatest scorers in NBA history.

Two Hall of Famers: James Worthy and Dominique Wilkins were eventually inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Both were also selected for the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team.

Terry Cummings: San Diego selected DePaul forward Terry Cummings second overall. He averaged 23.7 points and 10.6 rebounds as a rookie and won the 1982-83 NBA Rookie of the Year Award.

Seven NBA All-Stars: Terry Cummings, Mark Eaton, Sleepy Floyd, Fat Lever, Ricky Pierce, Dominique Wilkins and James Worthy all became NBA All-Stars.

Fat Lever: Portland selected Arizona State guard Lafayette "Fat" Lever 11th overall. He later became a two-time All-Star with Denver and developed into one of the league's premier all-around guards.

Sleepy Floyd: New Jersey selected Georgetown guard Eric "Sleepy" Floyd 13th overall. Floyd later became an All-Star with Golden State and set an NBA playoff record by scoring 29 points in a single quarter against the Lakers in 1987.

Ricky Pierce: Detroit selected Rice guard Ricky Pierce 18th overall. Pierce became an NBA All-Star and twice won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.

Paul Pressey: Milwaukee selected Tulsa swingman Paul Pressey 20th overall. Pressey became an important member of the Bucks and is frequently associated with the development of the point-forward role.

Craig Hodges: San Diego selected Long Beach State guard Craig Hodges 48th overall in the third round. Hodges later won two NBA championships with Chicago and three consecutive NBA Three-Point Contests from 1990 through 1992.

Mark Eaton: Utah selected 7-foot-4 UCLA center Mark Eaton 72nd overall in the fourth round. Eaton became one of the greatest shot blockers in league history, winning two NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards and earning an All-Star selection.

One of Utah's greatest steals: Eaton's selection at No. 72 was particularly remarkable because he had played sparingly at UCLA. He went on to lead the NBA in blocked shots four times and remains one of the most productive fourth-round selections in league history.

Ed Nealy: Kansas City selected Kansas State forward Ed Nealy 166th overall in the eighth round. Nealy beat extraordinary odds for such a late selection and played 10 NBA seasons, including winning the 1986 championship with Chicago.

Panagiotis Giannakis: Boston selected Greek guard Panagiotis Giannakis 205th overall in the ninth round. Although he never played in the NBA, Giannakis became one of the most accomplished players in European basketball and later had a distinguished coaching career.

Sean Tuohy: New Jersey selected Ole Miss point guard Sean Tuohy 218th overall in the tenth round. He never played in an NBA regular-season game but later became widely known outside basketball through the story portrayed in The Blind Side.

Landon Turner: Boston used the final selection, No. 225, on Indiana forward Landon Turner. Turner had been a starter on Indiana's 1981 NCAA championship team before a 1981 automobile accident left him paralyzed.

225 selections: The 1982 NBA Draft consisted of 225 actual player selections across 10 rounds. Basketball-Reference records 65 of the selected players as eventually appearing in an NBA regular-season or playoff game.

Ninth-round passes: Houston and Seattle passed during the ninth round. Because a pass was not an actual player selection, the draft's numerical sequence continued without assigning selection numbers to those two slots.