deandre ayton was picked number 1 in the nba draft.
deandre ayton was picked number 1 in the nba draft.
who was picked number 1 in the nba draft?
deandre ayton
the 2002, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018 nba drafts saw international players picked first overall. in 2002, the houston rockets selected yao ming from china first in the draft, the first asian number 1 selection. in 2005, the milwaukee bucks picked andrew bogut, from australia by way of the university of utah, #1. the next year, the toronto raptors drafted andrea bargnani from italy, making him the second foreign player without u.s. college experience and the first european to be selected number 1 overall. in 2011, australian born kyrie irving was selected by the cleveland cavaliers after having played one year at duke. in 2013, the cleveland cavaliers selected anthony bennett, who played at unlv, first overall and making bennett the first canadian to be drafted at #1. in the 2014 nba draft, the cleveland cavaliers, again picking #1, selected canadian shooting guard/small forward andrew wiggins. during the 2015 nba draft, the minnesota timberwolves selected u.s.-born center karl-anthony towns, also born with dominican republic citizenship by way of his mother, as the first player from the latter country and therefore the first latin american to become the #1 selection, teaming up with andrew wiggins in the process. during the 2016 nba draft, the philadelphia 76ers selected australian forward ben simmons to be the #1 selection, the first time the franchise got one in 20 years since the 1996 nba draft when they selected the first overall pick allen iverson, a sophomore from georgetown. in the 2018 nba draft, the phoenix suns selected bahamian center deandre ayton as their first ever #1 selection, with ayton being the second bahamian taken at #1 behind mychal thompson, and the third caribbean-born player after patrick ewing and thompson.
nba draft
by the 1999 draft, the number of foreign players being drafted dramatically increased. the top pick in the 1997 nba draft, tim duncan, became the third international player picked number 1 overall—although his designation as "international" is a matter of semantics, as he is a native of the united states virgin islands and, like all usvi natives, is a u.s. citizen by birth. he also had played u.s. college basketball at wake forest. including duncan, 12 international players were selected in the two rounds of the draft—although half of them, including duncan and the next two such players picked, had played college basketball. the 1998 draft saw another foreign player picked first overall, nigerian michael olowokandi, but like duncan he had played college basketball, in his case at pacific. in 2001 the highest drafted foreign player, pau gasol, was selected 3rd overall by the atlanta hawks. that would all change the following season when yao ming became the first foreign player without u.s. college experience to be selected number 1 overall. not only was the first overall pick an international player, but five more picks in the first round alone were also from overseas. in total, the 2002 draft produced 17 international players, with only three of them (all second-round picks) having u.s. college experience.
nba draft