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 three struggling franchises: the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, and the Toronto Raptors.
| 1998 NBA draft | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Date(s) | June 24, 1998 |
| Location | General Motors Place (Vancouver, British Columbia) |
| Network(s) | TNT |
| Overview | |
| 58 total selections in 2 rounds | |
| League | NBA |
| First selection | Michael Olowokandi (Los Angeles Clippers) |
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.
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.[1] 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 have played in the NBA All-Star Game at least once in their careers: Nowitzki, Carter, Jamison, Paul Pierce and Rashard Lewis. All of them have reached the 20,000 points plateau during their careers except for Lewis.
Carter retired in 2020, making him the last active player drafted in the 1990s to retire. He’s also one of only seven players to play at least 20 seasons in the NBA as well as being the only player to play in 4 decades. Nowitzki retired in April 2019 and remained with the Mavericks for his entire career, making him the only person to ever play 21 seasons with one team.
Seven members of the 1998 draft class are currently in Ice Cube's BIG3 Basketball League: #2 pick Mike Bibby and #21 pick Ricky Davis (Ghost Ballers), #11 pick Bonzi Wells (Tri State), #25 pick Al Harrington (Trilogy), #32 pick Rashard Lewis (3 Headed Monsters), #41 pick Cuttino Mobley (Power), and Mike James (Killer 3's), who went undrafted. Jason Williams played in the league's first season with the Ghost Ballers, but suffered an injury and would be out for the rest of the season.[2]
Draft selections
| PG | Point guard | SG | Shooting guard | SF | Small forward | PF | Power forward | C | Center |
| * | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game and All-NBA Team |
| + | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game |
| # | Denotes player who has never appeared in an NBA regular season or playoff game |
| ~ | Denotes player who has been selected as Rookie of the Year |
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- Nationality indicates the player's national team or representative nationality. If a player has not competed at the international level, then the nationality indicates the national team which the player is eligible to represent according to FIBA rules.
Notable undrafted players
These players were not selected in the 1998 NBA Draft but have played at least one game in the NBA.
| Player | Position | Nationality | School/Club team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earl Boykins | PG |  |
Eastern Michigan (Sr.) |
| Gerald Brown | SG | |
Pepperdine (Sr.) |
| Anthony Carter | PG | |
Hawaii (Sr.) |
| Steve Goodrich | PF/C | |
Princeton (Sr.) |
| Mike James | PG | |
Duquesne (Sr.) |
| Šarūnas Jasikevičius | PG |  |
Maryland (Sr.) |
| Charles Jones | SG | |
LIU Brooklyn (Sr.) |
| Mark Jones | SF | |
UCF (Sr.) |
| Kelly McCarty | SG | |
Southern Miss (Sr.) |
| Slava Medvedenko[3] | PF |  |
Budivelnyk Kiev (Ukraine) (born 1979) |
| Brad Miller+ | C | |
Purdue (Sr.) |
| Tyrone Nesby | SF | |
UNLV (Sr.) |
| Daniel Santiago | C |  |
Saint Vincent (Sr.) |
References
- Sports Illustrated photo gallery
- [http://en:BIG3 https://big3.com]
- Early entry candidate, per 2013 NBA Draft Media Guide, p. 213.
External links
- "Official website". Archived from the original on 2001-02-14. Retrieved 2011-06-15.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- 1998 NBA Draft at Basketball-Reference.com