2014 NBA draft

• 1. Introduction

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  The 2014 NBA draft took place on the 26th of June, 2014, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Before a single name was called that night, the league paused between the 15th and 16th picks to do something it had never done before. Former Baylor player Isaiah Austin, who had declared for the draft and dreamed of hearing his name called in the NBA, walked to the stage wearing a generic NBA cap. Just days before the ceremony, he had been diagnosed with Marfan syndrome during a pre-draft physical, ending his playing career. Commissioner Adam Silver and the league held a ceremonial pick in his honor, letting his name ring out in the building where it was always meant to be heard.

  That moment captured something essential about the 2014 draft. It was a class that many scouts and executives had anticipated as one of the deepest in recent years, packed with college freshmen, international prospects, and players who would go on to shape the league for the next decade. It was the first draft presided over by Adam Silver as commissioner, with Mark Tatum serving as deputy commissioner. And it contained, buried in the second round at pick 41, a Serbian center from a club team called Mega Vizura who would become the lowest-drafted player ever to win both the MVP Award and the NBA Finals MVP.

• 2. Cleveland's Remarkable Run

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  The Cleveland Cavaliers entered the Barclays Center lottery ceremony at a statistical disadvantage. Their 2013-14 record of 33 wins and 49 losses gave them just a 1.7% chance at the first overall pick. Yet when the envelopes were opened at the Times Square Studios in New York City on the 20th of May, 2014, Cleveland's name came out on top.

  It was the second consecutive year the Cavaliers had won the lottery, and their third time in four years. The magnitude of the upset tied the Chicago Bulls' ascension in the 2008 NBA draft for the second-largest lottery upset ever. The Milwaukee Bucks, who had the worst record in the league that season and the highest lottery odds at 25%, had to settle for the second pick. The Philadelphia 76ers, who held the second-worst record, landed third.

  The win gave Cleveland its fourth first overall pick since 2003, and its third in the span from 2011 to 2014. With that pick, the Cavaliers selected Andrew Wiggins of Kansas, a Canadian wing who became the second Canadian ever to go first overall. Nearly two months later, however, Wiggins never suited up for Cleveland. He was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of a three-team deal that brought power forward Kevin Love to Cleveland. That made Wiggins only the second first overall pick since the NBA-ABA merger to never play a game for the team that drafted him. The first was Chris Webber, selected first by Orlando in 1993 and traded to Golden State within minutes of being chosen.

• 3. Canadian Footprint

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  Wiggins was not the only Canadian to make history on draft night. Nik Stauskas, selected by the Sacramento Kings with the eighth pick out of Michigan, joined Wiggins to form the first pair of Canadian players ever taken in the top ten of a single draft. They were also the second pair of Canadian players selected in the lottery.

  The Canadian presence extended further down the board. Tyler Ennis, a point guard who had played at Syracuse, was taken in the first round, making three Canadians selected in the top 20 of a single draft. Ennis was among the 20 players invited to attend the green room at Barclays Center that night. The league typically extends those invitations to around 10 to 15 players; for this draft, it expanded the green room to 21 players. Of those 21, 19 were selected in the top 19 picks. The two exceptions were Rodney Hood, taken 23rd, and Shabazz Napier, taken 24th.

• 4. The International Draft

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  A total of 30 international players declared as early entry candidates for the 2014 draft, and 13 of them remained in the pool after the withdrawal deadline of the 16th of June. The source of those players stretched across Brazil, France, Serbia, Australia, Greece, Russia, Croatia, and Italy.

  Dante Exum, who had trained at the Australian Institute of Sport, was taken fifth overall by the Utah Jazz, one of the most prominent international picks in the class. Croatian forward Dario Saric, who had played for Cibona Zagreb, went 12th. The draft also featured the selection of Walter Tavares, making him the first Cape Verdean player ever chosen in an NBA draft. P. J. Hairston, taken 26th by the Miami Heat out of the NBA Development League's Texas Legends, became the first D-League player selected in the first round. His presence alongside Thanasis Antetokounmpo, also taken from the D-League, marked the first time multiple Development League players had been chosen in the same draft. Among those who went undrafted, Sim Bhullar signed and in April 2015 became the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA.

• 5. Nikola Jokic at Pick 41

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  Nikola Jokic arrived at Barclays Center from Mega Vizura in Serbia, and he sat outside the green room. When the Denver Nuggets called his name with the 41st pick, the second round was well underway. Teams had just two minutes per selection in the second round, and Jokic's moment passed without ceremony.

  No first-round pick from the 2014 class, and no pick from any prior draft, had ever reached the heights Jokic would reach. He became the lowest-drafted player in NBA history to win the MVP Award. He then added the NBA Finals MVP, making him the only player ever to hold both distinctions from such a position in the draft. The 2014 class was already considered one of the deepest in recent memory when it was held; Jokic's career transformed that reputation into something that would be cited for years in discussions of draft value and scouting.

• 6. Rules, Eligibility, and Process

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  The eligibility framework governing the 2014 draft came from the collective bargaining agreement that settled the 2011 NBA lockout. Under those rules, all drafted players had to be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft, meaning anyone born after the 31st of December, 1995, was ineligible. Domestic players who were not classified as international also had to be at least one year removed from their high school graduation class.

  The CBA drew a specific distinction for international players: those who had permanently resided outside the United States for three years prior to the draft, had not completed high school in the U.S., and had never enrolled at a U.S. college were subject to a different set of rules. They were automatically eligible at age 22, meaning players born on or before the 31st of December, 1992, could enter without restriction. Players wanting to declare early had to notify the NBA in writing no later than 60 days before the draft. For 2014, that deadline fell on the 27th of April. Under CBA rules, a player could withdraw from consideration up until 10 days before the draft. NCAA rules at the time were stricter: players had only until the 16th of April to withdraw and keep their college eligibility. Hiring an agent forfeited that eligibility entirely, regardless of whether the player was ultimately drafted. In all, 45 collegiate players and 30 international players declared as early entries. Eighteen withdrew by the June deadline.