The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. This draft set a record with five players being drafted from the same school in the first round. The players were John Wall (first), DeMarcus Cousins (fifth), Patrick Patterson (fourteenth), Eric Bledsoe (eighteenth), and Daniel Orton (twenty-ninth), all from the University of Kentucky. This draft also marked the second time an NBA D-League player was drafted, with the first case coming in 2008.
The Washington Wizards, who won the draft lottery on May 18, 2010, used their first overall draft pick to draft John Wall from the University of Kentucky. The Philadelphia 76ers, who also beat the odds in the draft lottery to obtain the second pick, selected Evan Turner from Ohio State University. The New Jersey Nets, who had the worst win–loss record in the previous season, used the third pick to select Derrick Favors from Georgia Tech.
The 2010 NBA draft is the last draft conducted at Madison Square Garden. The 2011 and 2012 NBA drafts were temporarily moved to Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, while the 2013 NBA draft would be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York as the Garden underwent renovations during those summers of 2011–2013. After 2014, the draft would continue being hosted at the Barclays Center despite the renovations being done by the 2014 deadline.
This draft class had no Rookie of the Year because Blake Griffin, who was drafted first overall in the previous year's draft, missed his first season with an injury, but played in the 2010–2011 season and won the award. As of 2023, the only remaining active players from this draft are Paul George and Gordon Hayward.
Draft selections
Notable undrafted players
These players were not selected in the 2010 NBA Draft, but have played in at least one NBA game.
Eligibility
The basic eligibility rules for the draft are: All drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players eligible for the 2010 draft must be born on or before December 31, 1991. Any player who is not an "international player", as defined in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the league and its players union, must be at least one year removed from the graduation of his high school class. The CBA defines "international players" as players who permanently resided outside the U.S. for three years prior to the draft, did not complete high school in the U.S., and have never enrolled at a U.S. college or university.
The basic requirement for automatic eligibility for a U.S. player is the completion of his college eligibility. Players who meet the CBA definition of "international players" are automatically eligible if their 22nd birthday falls during or before the calendar year of the draft (i.e., born on or before December 31, 1988). U.S. players who were at least one year removed from their high school graduation and have played professionally with a team outside the NBA (either top-level basketball in another country, or minor-league basketball in North America) were also automatically eligible. Former high school player Latavious Williams meets these criteria, having graduated high school in 2009, skipped college basketball and then played professional basketball in NBA D-League.
A player who is not automatically eligible must declare his eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than 60 days before the draft. For the 2010 draft, this date fell on April 25. Under NCAA rules taking effect with this draft, they only had until May 8 to withdraw from the draft and maintain their college eligibility. Previously, players who declared for the draft could withdraw as late as 10 days before the draft (the withdrawal deadline under the CBA) and still maintain college eligibility. This year, a total of 80 collegiate players and 23 international players declared as early entry candidates. At the withdrawal deadline, 48 early entry candidates withdrew from the draft, leaving 50 collegiate players and five international players as the early entry candidates for the draft.