The
North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team, representing the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has had 113 players
drafted into the
National Basketball Association (NBA) since the league began holding the yearly event in 1947. Each NBA
franchise seeks to add new players through an annual draft. The NBA uses a
draft lottery to determine the first three picks of the NBA draft; the 14 teams that did not make the playoffs the previous year are eligible to participate. After the first three picks are decided, the rest of the teams pick in reverse order of their win–loss record.[1][2] To be
eligible for the NBA draft, a player in the United States must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft and must be at least one year removed from the graduation of his high school class.[3]
Through the
2019 NBA draft, a Tar Heel has been chosen first overall two times in the history of the event,
James Worthy in 1982 and
Brad Daugherty in 1986. Out of the thirty teams that currently make up the NBA, seven have not picked a player from North Carolina. The
New York Knicks have selected nine former Tar Heels, which is the most of any current NBA franchise. Fifty-two Tar Heels have been drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft, with Coby White, Cameron Johnson, and Nassir Little being the latest. The most Tar Heels selected in the first round of a single NBA Draft is four, which happened twice, in 2005 and 2012.[5] Sixteen players have been selected to either an
ABA or
NBA All-Star Game, sixteen have been a member of an
NBA or
ABA championship winning team, and nine have achieved both. The most Tar Heels selected in a single NBA Draft is five, in 1980. Of all the Tar Heels that have been drafted, five have been inducted into the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
^
abThis is the team that drafted the player, not their most recent team.
^
abThe NBA had a rule which stated a player was not eligible for the NBA Draft until four years after he graduated high school. York Larese was eligible for the NBA Draft as a junior since he missed the 1957–58 season due to an injury. Larese was a junior at North Carolina when he was selected with the 6th pick in the 6th round of the 1960 NBA Draft by the St. Louis Hawks. He chose to return to North Carolina for his senior year and was later drafted by the Chicago Packers with the 11th pick in the 2nd round of the 1961 NBA Draft.
^
abThe NBA had a rule which stated a player was not eligible for the NBA Draft until four years after he graduated high school. Doug Moe was eligible for the NBA Draft as a junior since he spent a year at a prep school after he completed high school, after which he spent three years at North Carolina. Moe was a junior at North Carolina when he was selected with the 4th pick in the 7th round of the 1960 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. He chose to return to North Carolina for his senior year and was later drafted by the Chicago Packers with the 13th pick in the 2nd round of the 1961 NBA Draft.
^"Article X, Section 1(b)(i)". 2005 NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. National Basketball Players Association. Archived from
the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
The
North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team, representing the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has had 113 players
drafted into the
National Basketball Association (NBA) since the league began holding the yearly event in 1947. Each NBA
franchise seeks to add new players through an annual draft. The NBA uses a
draft lottery to determine the first three picks of the NBA draft; the 14 teams that did not make the playoffs the previous year are eligible to participate. After the first three picks are decided, the rest of the teams pick in reverse order of their win–loss record.[1][2] To be
eligible for the NBA draft, a player in the United States must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft and must be at least one year removed from the graduation of his high school class.[3]
Through the
2019 NBA draft, a Tar Heel has been chosen first overall two times in the history of the event,
James Worthy in 1982 and
Brad Daugherty in 1986. Out of the thirty teams that currently make up the NBA, seven have not picked a player from North Carolina. The
New York Knicks have selected nine former Tar Heels, which is the most of any current NBA franchise. Fifty-two Tar Heels have been drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft, with Coby White, Cameron Johnson, and Nassir Little being the latest. The most Tar Heels selected in the first round of a single NBA Draft is four, which happened twice, in 2005 and 2012.[5] Sixteen players have been selected to either an
ABA or
NBA All-Star Game, sixteen have been a member of an
NBA or
ABA championship winning team, and nine have achieved both. The most Tar Heels selected in a single NBA Draft is five, in 1980. Of all the Tar Heels that have been drafted, five have been inducted into the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
^
abThis is the team that drafted the player, not their most recent team.
^
abThe NBA had a rule which stated a player was not eligible for the NBA Draft until four years after he graduated high school. York Larese was eligible for the NBA Draft as a junior since he missed the 1957–58 season due to an injury. Larese was a junior at North Carolina when he was selected with the 6th pick in the 6th round of the 1960 NBA Draft by the St. Louis Hawks. He chose to return to North Carolina for his senior year and was later drafted by the Chicago Packers with the 11th pick in the 2nd round of the 1961 NBA Draft.
^
abThe NBA had a rule which stated a player was not eligible for the NBA Draft until four years after he graduated high school. Doug Moe was eligible for the NBA Draft as a junior since he spent a year at a prep school after he completed high school, after which he spent three years at North Carolina. Moe was a junior at North Carolina when he was selected with the 4th pick in the 7th round of the 1960 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. He chose to return to North Carolina for his senior year and was later drafted by the Chicago Packers with the 13th pick in the 2nd round of the 1961 NBA Draft.
^"Article X, Section 1(b)(i)". 2005 NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. National Basketball Players Association. Archived from
the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved November 18, 2009.