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The 1997 NBA Draft took place on June 25, 1997 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Although the Celtics had the second worst record in the 1996-97 season and the best odds (36 percent) of winning the lottery with two picks, the Spurs, usually a model of winning and consistency, lost David Robinson to an injury early in the season and finished with the third worst record, subsequently winning the lottery. Leading up to the draft, there was no doubt that Tim Duncan would be selected at No. 1 by the Spurs[1]. The Celtics would end up with the third and sixth picks selecting Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer, both of whom were traded in the next two years. Although the draft class only produced three All-Stars (Duncan, Billups and Tracy McGrady).

Names in bold had been selected into All-NBA Team.

Round one[]

= All-Star
Pick Player Nationality NBA Team School/Club Team
1 Tim Duncan (F/C) United States / US Virgin Islands San Antonio Spurs Wake Forest-Sr.
2 Keith Van Horn (PF) United States Philadelphia 76ers Utah-Sr.
3 Chauncey Billups (PG) United States Boston Celtics Colorado-So.
4 Antonio Daniels (PG) United States Vancouver Grizzlies Bowling Green-Sr.
5 Tony Battie (C/PF) United States Denver Nuggets Texas Tech-Jr.
6 Ron Mercer (SF) United States Boston Celtics Kentucky-So.
7 Tim Thomas (SF) United States New Jersey Nets Villanova-Fr.
8 Adonal Foyle (C) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Golden State Warriors Colgate-Jr.
9 Tracy McGrady (G/F) United States Toronto Raptors Mt. Zion Academy (Durham, NC)
10 Danny Fortson (PF) United States Milwaukee Bucks Cincinnati-Jr.
11 Tariq Abdul-Wahad (SF) United States Sacramento Kings San Jose State-Sr.
12 Austin Croshere (F) United States Indiana Pacers Providence-Sr.
13 Derek Anderson (SG) United States Cleveland Cavaliers Kentucky-Sr.
14 Maurice Taylor (PF) United States Los Angeles Clippers Michigan-Jr.
15 Kelvin Cato (C) United States Dallas Mavericks (from Minnesota) Iowa State-Jr.
16 Brevin Knight (PG) United States Cleveland Cavaliers (from Phoenix) Stanford-Sr.
17 Johnny Taylor (F) United States Orlando Magic Chattanooga-Sr.
18 Chris Anstey (F) Australia Dallas Mavericks (from Portland) SE Melbourne Magic (Australia)
19 Scot Pollard (C) United States Detroit Pistons Kansas-Sr.
20 Paul Grant (C) United States Minnesota Timberwolves (from Charlotte) Wisconsin-Sr.
21 Anthony Parker (SG) United States New Jersey Nets (from L.A. Lakers) Bradley-Sr.
22 Ed Gray (G) United States Atlanta Hawks California-Sr.
23 Bobby Jackson (G) United States Seattle SuperSonics Minnesota-Sr.
24 Rodrick Rhodes (G) United States Houston Rockets USC-Sr.
25 John Thomas (C) United States New York Knicks Minnesota-Sr.
26 Charles Smith (G) United States Miami Heat New Mexico-Sr.
27 Jacque Vaughn (G) United States Utah Jazz Kansas-Sr.
28 Keith Booth (F) United States Chicago Bulls Maryland-Sr.

Round two[]

Pick Player Nationality NBA Team School/Club Team
30 Serge Zwikker (C) Netherlands Houston Rockets (from Vancouver) North Carolina
31 Mark Sanford (F) United States Miami Heat (from Boston) Washington
32 Charles O'Bannon (G) United States Detroit Pistons (from San Antonio) UCLA
33 James Cotton (G) United States Denver Nuggets Long Beach State
34 Marko Milič (G) Slovenia Philadelphia 76ers Smelt Olimpija (Slovenia)
35 Bubba Wells (F) United States Dallas Mavericks Austin Peay
36 Kebu Stewart (F) United States Philadelphia 76ers (from New Jersey) Cal State Bakersfield
37 James Collins (G) United States Philadelphia 76ers (from Toronto) Florida State
38 Marc Jackson (F) United States Golden State Warriors Temple
39 Jerald Honeycutt (F) United States Milwaukee Bucks Tulane
40 Anthony Johnson (G) United States Sacramento Kings College of Charleston
41 Ed Elisma (F) United States Seattle SuperSonics (from L.A. Clippers) Georgia Tech
42 Jason Lawson (C) United States Denver Nuggets (from Indiana) Villanova
43 Stephen Jackson (G) United States Phoenix Suns Butler CC (Kansas)
44 Gordon Malone (F) United States Minnesota Timberwolves West Virginia
45 Cedric Henderson (F) United States Cleveland Cavaliers Memphis
46 God Shammgod (G) United States Washington Bullets Providence
47 Eric Washington (G) United States Orlando Magic (traded to Denver) Alabama
48 Alvin Williams (G) United States Portland Trail Blazers Villanova
49 Predrag Drobnjak (C) Yugoslavia / Montenegro Washington Bullets (from Charlotte) Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
50 Alain Digbeu (G) France Atlanta Hawks (from Detroit) Villeurbanne (France)
51 Chris Crawford (F) United States Atlanta Hawks Marquette
52 DeJuan Wheat (G) United States Los Angeles Lakers Louisville
53 C. J. Bruton (G) Australia Vancouver Grizzlies (from Houston) Indian Hills CC (Iowa)
54 Paul Rogers (C) Australia Los Angeles Lakers (from New York) Gonzaga
55 Mark Blount (C) United States Seattle SuperSonics Pittsburgh
56 Ben Pepper (C) Australia Boston Celtics (from Miami) Newcastle Falcons (Australia)
57 Nate Erdmann (G) United States Utah Jazz Oklahoma
58 Roberto Dueñas (C) Spain Chicago Bulls FC Barcelona (Spain)

Notable undrafted players[]

All players are American unless otherwise indicated.

Player School/Club Team
Pat Burke (C, Template:IRL) Auburn
Troy Hudson (PG) Southern Illinois
Damon Jones (PG) Houston
Mikki Moore (PF/C) Nebraska
Ira Newble (SG/SF) Miami (Ohio)

References[]

External links[]