NBA Draft: How does it work & how many picks are available? - BBC Sport
The NBA draft is an annual event during which the 30 NBA teams sign the best talents from college basketball.
Taking place across two nights - both of which feature one round of picks - teams are given priority order based on performances in the previous seasons.
Traditionally, 60 players are picked up in the draft but only 59 will be taken in the 2025 edition.
That is because the New York Knicks lost their second-round pick after holding free-agency discussions with Jalen Brunson in 2022 prior to signing him earlier than they were permitted to.
The first four teams in the draft are selected by the draft lottery, which is made up of teams who did not qualify for the play-offs in the previous season.
The 2025 lottery was won by the Dallas Mavericks, despite them only having a 1.8% chance of doing so because of a 47.6% win record in the regular season.
Though theoretically each team should have one pick per round, some end up with multiple picks - or none - as a result of trades in previous years.
In Wednesday night's first round, for example, the Brooklyn Nets took five of the 30 first-round picks as a result of trades.
The majority of picks are taken from universities across the United States and Canada, but players can move from universities and professional teams from other countries.
In the first round of the 2025 draft, players from teams in Germany, China, Slovenia, France and Spain were all selected.
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