2024 NBA draft

The 2024 NBA draft was the 78th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft. Unlike recent years, the 2024 draft took place over two nights. This was the first NBA draft to be held on multiple nights since the draft was shortened to two rounds, with earlier drafts consisting of as few as three or as many as twenty-one rounds prior to the current format's debut in 1989.

The first round of the draft took place on June 26, 2024, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, while the second round took place on June 27 at ESPN's Seaport District Studios in Manhattan. The time between second-round picks expanded from two minutes to four. For the third year in a row, the draft consists of 58 picks instead of the typical 60, this time due to the loss of a second-round pick for both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Phoenix Suns for violating the NBA's tampering rules during free agency.

The first overall selection was owned by the Atlanta Hawks, which they used to select French forward Zaccharie Risacher, making him the second consecutive French player to be drafted with the number one pick, after the San Antonio Spurs had picked Victor Wembanyama in the previous year's edition. France became the second nation (after the U.S.) to have at least three native players picked in the top 10 spots of any NBA draft following the selections of Risacher, Alex Sarr, and Tidjane Salaün, as well as the second nation (after the U.S.) to have two native players get selected with the first and second overall picks.

Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, was selected 55th overall in the 2nd round and would become the first player in NBA history to play alongside his father.

These players were not selected in the 2024 NBA draft, but have played at least one regular-season or playoff game in the NBA.

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

Post-draft trades are made after the draft begins. These trades are usually not confirmed until the next day or after free agency officially begins.

The 10th G League Elite Camp took place on May 11–12, from which certain participants were selected to join the main draft combine.

The primary portion of the 2024 NBA Draft Combine was held from May 13–19 in Chicago, Illinois.

The NBA draft lottery was held on May 12.

The draft is conducted under the eligibility rules established in the league's 2017 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its players' union, with special modifications agreed to by both parties due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous CBA that ended the 2011 lockout instituted no immediate changes to the draft, but it called for a committee of owners and players to discuss further changes.

• All drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players who were eligible for the 2024 NBA draft must have been born on or before December 31, 2005.
• Since the 2016 draft, the following rules are, as implemented by the NCAA Division I council for that division:
  • Declaration for the draft no longer results in automatic loss of college eligibility. As long as a player does not sign a contract with a professional team outside the NBA or sign with an agent, he retains college eligibility as long as he makes a timely withdrawal from the draft.
  • NCAA players now have 10 days after the end of the NBA Draft Combine to withdraw from the draft. Since the combine is normally held in mid-May, the current deadline is about five weeks after the previous mid-April deadline.
  • NCAA players may participate in the draft combine and are allowed to attend one tryout per year with each NBA team without losing college eligibility.
  • NCAA players may now enter and withdraw from the draft up to two times without loss of eligibility. Previously, the NCAA treated a second declaration of draft eligibility as a permanent loss of college eligibility.

Players who were not automatically eligible had to declare their eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than at least 60 days before the event. For the 2024 draft, the date fell on April 27. Under the CBA a player may withdraw his name from consideration from the draft at any time before the final declaration deadline, which usually falls 10 days before the draft at 5:00 pm EDT (2100 UTC). Under current NCAA rules, players usually have until 10 days after the draft combine to withdraw from the draft and retain college eligibility. They must have withdrawn on or before May 29, 22 days prior to this draft.

A player who has hired an agent for purposes of negotiating with professional teams retains his remaining college eligibility regardless of whether he is drafted after an evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee. Players who declare for the NBA draft and are not selected have the opportunity to return to their school for at least another year only after terminating all agreements with their agents, who must have been certified.

On May 2, 2024, 195 players were initially announced as early entry candidates. By May 31, 93 collegiate and Overtime Elite-based players withdrew from consideration; by June 16, 23 further international players met the international player deadline for withdrawing from the draft, leaving only 77 total early entrants for this year's draft. 53 players from college were either underclassmen or seniors with eligibility remaining for collegiate play, 18 players were from overseas leagues (including two American-born players playing overseas in Australia), and six players were from either the NBA G League (primarily via the NBA G League Ignite) or Overtime Elite as non-NBA domestic league options.

"Redshirt" referred to players who were redshirt seniors in the 2023–24 season.

Players who do not meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:

• They have no remaining college eligibility.
• If they graduated from high school in the U.S., but did not enroll in a U.S. college or university, four years have passed since their high school class graduated.
• They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA, anywhere in the world, and have played under the contract.

Players who meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:

• They are at least 22 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In term of dates players born on or before December 31, 2002, are automatically eligible for the 2024 draft.
• They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA within the United States, and have played under that contract.

The NBA annually invites players to sit in the so-called "green room", a special room set aside at the draft site for the invited players plus their families and agents. However, due to the new nature of the NBA draft taking place over the course of two days rather than one, the NBA sent invites in waves rather than all at once. The first wave was reported on June 11, with twelve players confirmed to be involved in the initial invitation process.

A second wave of invites was reported the following week on June 15, with eight additions to the list.

Finally, a minor third wave of invites was reported four days later on June 19.

In addition to these, Canadian center Zach Edey from Purdue University was also given an invitation, but he declined to travel in order to watch the NBA draft at his alma mater with his family.