1998 NBA draft

The 1998 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1998, at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This draft helped turn around four struggling franchises: the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, the Boston Celtics, and the Toronto Raptors.

The Vancouver Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors were not able to win the NBA draft lottery; as they were expansion teams, they were not allowed to select first in this draft.

The Mavericks, despite having a talented nucleus of Jason Kidd, Jamal Mashburn and Jimmy Jackson in the mid-1990s, had not had a winning season since 1989-90, which was also the last time they made the playoffs. By the end of the 1997 season, all three players were traded and it was time to rebuild. With the sixth selection in 1998, they drafted Robert Traylor and quickly traded him to the Milwaukee Bucks for Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity. They then traded Garrity in a package to the Phoenix Suns for Steve Nash. With Nash and Nowitzki, the Mavericks quickly went from a lottery team in the late 1990s to a perennial playoff contender throughout the 2000s. Nowitzki went on to win the 2011 NBA Finals with Dallas without Nash, but with Kidd.

Meanwhile, the Raptors were a recent expansion team that had failed to win more than 30 games in its first three seasons. With the fourth pick they selected Antawn Jamison, whom they quickly dealt to the Golden State Warriors for Vince Carter. Carter went on to win Rookie of the Year.

First overall pick Michael Olowokandi from mid-major University of the Pacific is regarded by ''Sports Illustrated'' as one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history. As of February 2019, he is the last top selection to come out of a university that is considered mid-major.

Five players from the 1998 draft class played in the NBA All-Star Game at least once in their careers: Nowitzki, Carter, Jamison, Paul Pierce and Rashard Lewis. All of them except Lewis scored at least 20,000 career points.

Carter retired in 2020, making him the last active player drafted in the 1990s to retire. He set the record for most seasons played in the NBA with 22, becoming the first player to ever appear in NBA games in four different decades. Nowitzki missed the same four-decade status by nine months, retiring from the Mavericks in April 2019 as the first player to ever spend more than 20 NBA seasons with one team.

Draft selections

Notable undrafted players

These players eligible for the 1998 NBA Draft were not selected but played at least one game in the NBA.

Early entrants

College underclassmen

Much like last year, this year initially saw 40 total players classified as underclassmen entering the NBA draft. However, seven players from this year's draft would later withdraw their names from entry, with Bud Eley from Southeast Missouri State University, Rico Harris from Los Angeles City College, the Yugoslavian-Greek born Marko Jarić from the Peristeri B.C. of Greece, the Bosnian-Greek born Saša Marković-Theodorakis from the Panionios B.C. in Athens, Greece, Lee Nailon from Texas Christian University, Lamar Odom from the University of Rhode Island, and the Greek born Dimitrios Papanikolaou from the Olympiacos Piraeus B.C. in Greece all withdrawing their entries into this year's draft. Including four different players that came directly from high school into the NBA draft (three of which actually became drafted) and three overseas players that successfully stayed into the NBA draft, the number of underclassmen would jump up from 26 total college players to 33 overall. Regardless, the following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.

* Rafer Alston – G, Fresno State (junior)
* Corey Benjamin – G, Oregon State (sophomore)
* Mike Bibby – G, Arizona (sophomore)
* Chandar Bingham – F, Virginia Union (sophomore)
* Marcus Bullard – G, Auburn Montgomery (junior)
* Vince Carter – F/G, North Carolina (junior)
* Wayne Clark – G, Park (freshman)
* Tim Cole – G, Northeast Mississippi CC (sophomore)
* Peter Cornell – C, Loyola Marymount (junior)
* Arthur Davis – G, St. Joseph's (sophomore)
* Ricky Davis – F/G, Iowa (freshman)
* Tremaine Fowlkes – F, Fresno State (junior)
* Larry Hughes – G, Saint Louis (freshman)
* Randell Jackson – F, Florida State (junior)
* Jerome James – C, Florida A&M (junior)
* Antawn Jamison – F, North Carolina (junior)
* Tyronn Lue – G, Nebraska (junior)
* Jelani McCoy – F/C, UCLA (junior)
* Mark Miller – G, UIC (junior)
* Nazr Mohammed – F/C, Kentucky (junior)
* Paul Pierce – G/F, Kansas (junior)
* Adam Roberts – G, San Francisco State (junior)
* James Spears – F, Shaw (junior)
* Robert Traylor – F, Michigan (junior)
* Winfred Walton – F, Fresno State (sophomore)
* Jason Williams – G, Florida (sophomore)

High school players

Had Lamar Odom declared entry into this year's draft like he planned on doing, he would not have represented St. Thomas Aquinas High School in New Britain, Connecticut due to him already declaring entry into college this year, but having academic troubles to qualify for collegiate play. That being said, this would be the fourth year in a row where at least one high school player would declare entry into the NBA draft after previously only doing it back in 1975. The following high school players successfully applied for early draft entrance.

* Al Harrington – F, St. Patrick (Elizabeth, New Jersey

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