How Many Rounds Are in the NBA Draft? Full History of NBA Draft Process

As the Knicks continue to celebrate the franchise’s first NBA championship in 53 years, the league is already looking ahead to next season. The other 29 teams will begin executing plans to dethrone the new champs, while New York begins its title defense with the 2026 NBA draft.

The Wizards own the top pick after winning the draft lottery with the right to make their choice of this year’s top prospects in AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer. Washington has been on the clock since the ping pong balls fell their way in May, but Wizards general manager Will Dawkins will officially make his pick on Tuesday, June 23, when the first round kicks off. After all 30 picks in the first round, the second round will follow on Wednesday night.

Last year, the Mavericks made Cooper Flagg the No. 1 pick after Dallas’ lottery luck entirely changed the organization’s direction in the fallout of the drastic Luka Dončić trade. He went on to win Rookie of the Year, but it was a close race with his Duke teammate Kon Knueppel, who the Hornets chose with the fourth pick. In between were Dylan Harper and V.J. Edgecombe who each played a key part on playoff teams.

Edgecombe helped the 76ers upset the Celtics in the first round before Philadelphia was quickly swept by the eventual champions in the second round. Harper, meanwhile, broke out in the postseason and played well beyond his years throughout the Spurs’ run to the NBA Finals where he looked like a star in the making.

The 2025 draft class has already shifted the trajectory of a number of franchises. The Wizards have the first crack at that opportunity this year, followed by the Jazz, Grizzlies and Bulls who round out the top-four picks.

Ahead of the newest draftees hearing their names called on draft night, here’s a look at the NBA’s draft process and how it’s changed over the years.

How many rounds are in the NBA draft?

Cooper Flagg was the first pick of last year’s NBA draft | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The NBA draft has two rounds. All 30 teams have one pick in each round, which makes for a total of 60 picks in each draft. Last year’s NBA draft had just 59 picks because the Knicks were docked a second-round pick due to a free-agency violation in 2022 as New York pursued the new Finals MVP Jalen Brunson.

Picks change hands between teams often due to the NBA’s frequent nature of trades that sees draft capital included in the vast majority of deals. That can give teams additional picks or leave some empty handed depending on what future picks are owed through previous trades.

Trades are also agreed to on draft night as teams try to move up for a prospect in demand or if a pick is exchanged in a trade for a current player. That’s led to plenty of confusing moments as prospects put on the draft hat for the team who drafted them, but their draft rights are traded elsewhere and they never actually play for the team who initially made the pick. The NBA draft happens before the new league year begins, which holds up trades from being officially executed until that date.

This year, the NBA draft starts on June 23 and the new league year doesn’t begin until July 1, which is when teams can officially sign free agents and execute agreed-upon trades. So, keep a close eye on the broadcast and here on Sports Illustrated to stay up to date with the bevy of moves that are in store.

Has the NBA draft always been two rounds?

The NBA draft has had two rounds since 1989. In the early years of the league, teams would simply pick until there were no more prospects, which made the NBA draft as many as 21 rounds in 1960. Early NBA drafts included territorial picks which allowed teams to forfeit its first-round pick to instead select a player from its immediate area, often one with a strong local following.

Territorial picks are how Wilt Chamberlain landed with the Philadelphia Warriors, Oscar Robertson with the Cincinnati Royals and Gail Goodrich with the Los Angeles Lakers. The last territorial pick took place in 1965 (Goodrich) and the league moved to a coin flip between last-place finishers to determine which team would pick first. In the coin-flip era, the draft stabilized to 10 rounds which continued until 1985 when the NBA implemented its lottery system. At that point, the draft was shortened to seven rounds.

In an agreement with the National Basketball Players’ Association, the draft shrunk to two rounds in 1989 and has been that way ever since. The shortened draft gave undrafted players the chance to try out for a team and eventually work the way onto an active roster, which we see plenty of today through two-way contracts and undrafted free agent signings.

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