2004 NBA draft
Basketball player selection
The 2004 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2004, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and was broadcast live on ESPN at 7:00 pm (EDT). In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players. The NBA announced that 56 college and high school players and 38 international players had filed as early-entry candidates for the 2004 draft. On May 26, the NBA draft lottery was conducted for the teams that did not make the NBA playoffs in the 2003-04 NBA season. The Orlando Magic, who had a 25 percent chance of obtaining the first selection, won the lottery, while the Los Angeles Clippers and the Chicago Bulls were second and third respectively. As an expansion team, the Charlotte Bobcats had been assigned the fourth selection in the draft and did not participate in the lottery. The Minnesota Timberwolves forfeited their first-round pick due to salary cap violations.
By the end of the draft, around 40% of the players selected in it were born from countries outside the United States. It would remain the highest influx of international players selected in the modern NBA draft era until the 2016 NBA draft, where almost half of the selected players were born in countries outside the US. In addition, four of the players selected in the draft were Russians, which not only marked the highest number of Russian-born players to be taken in one draft, but also was the highest representation of a country other than the US in one draft until 2016 when five Frenchmen would be taken in the draft.
The second-overall pick, Emeka Okafor out of Connecticut, the Bobcats' historical first rookie draft pick back when they were considered an expansion franchise, was named Rookie of the Year. Third-overall pick Ben Gordon, also out of Connecticut, earned the Sixth Man of the Year Award, becoming the first rookie in NBA history to do so.
Dwight Howard has become an NBA Champion, eight-time All-Star, has received eight All-NBA selections, and a three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year awardee. He also had the distinction as the only NBA player straight out of high school to start all 82 games as a rookie. There are also four other players that would be named All-Stars at some point in their careers, and Al Jefferson would be named to an All-NBA team. Andre Iguodala would win four championships with the Golden State Warriors and was named Finals MVP in 2015. The draft is also notable for multiple players coming straight from high school being drafted within a few picks from each other. As of the end of the 2022-23 NBA season, Andre Iguodala was the last remaining active player from the 2004 class. Iguodala announced his retirement in 2023.
01Draft selections
| ^ | Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
| * | 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 |
| x | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-NBA Team |
| # | 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 |
02Notable undrafted players
These players not selected in the draft have played at least one game in the NBA.
| Player | Position | Nationality | School/club team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pero Antić | C | Macedonia | AEK Athens (Greece) 1982 |
| Andre Barrett | PG | United States | Seton Hall (Sr.) |
| Tony Bobbitt | SG | United States | Cincinnati (Sr.) |
| Andre Brown | C/PF | United States | DePaul (Sr.) |
| Jackie Butler | C/PF | United States | Coastal Christian Academy (Virginia Beach, Virginia) (HS Sr.) |
| Erik Daniels | SF | United States | Kentucky (Sr.) |
| John Edwards | C | United States | Kent State (Sr.) |
| Desmon Farmer | SG | United States | USC (Sr.) |
| Gerald Fitch | SG | United States | Kentucky (Sr.) |
| Hamed Haddadi | C | Iran | Paykan Tehran (Iran) 1985 |
| Renaldo Major | SF | United States | Fresno State (Sr.) |
| Jared Reiner | C | United States | Iowa (Sr.) |
| James Thomas | PF | United States | Texas (Sr.) |
| Damien Wilkins | SF | United States | Georgia (Sr.) |
03Early entrants
College underclassmen
After seeing a couple of years where they missed the previous year of 75 underclassmen testing their early entry in 2001, this year saw an at the time record-high 92 players declare their initial entry into this year's draft. However, this year also saw an at the time record high 52 underclassmen from college, overseas, or high school withdraw their names from the draft, thus leaving only 40 total underclassmen officially declaring their entry into the NBA draft. The following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.
- Chris Acker, G, Chaminade (sophomore)
- Trevor Ariza, G/F, UCLA (freshman)
- Brandon Bender, F, Robert Morris (junior)
- Evan Burns, F, San Diego State (freshman)
- Josh Childress, F/G, Stanford (junior)
- Cortez Davis, F, Midland College (sophomore)
- Luol Deng, F, Duke (freshman)
- / Ben Gordon, G, Connecticut (junior)
- Devin Harris, G, Wisconsin (junior)
- David Harrison, C, Colorado (junior)
- JaQuan Hart, G, Eastern Michigan (junior)
- Kris Humphries, F, Minnesota (freshman)
- Sani Ibrahim, F, Gulf Coast CC (sophomore)
- Andre Iguodala, F, Arizona (sophomore)
- Kevin Martin, G, Western Carolina (junior)
- Emeka Okafor, F, Connecticut (junior)
- Randy Orr, C, Georgia Perimeter (sophomore)
- Jason Parker, F, Chipola (junior)
- Donta Smith, F/G, Southeastern Illinois (sophomore)
- Kirk Snyder, G, Nevada (junior)
- Harvey Thomas, F, Baylor (junior)
- Delonte West, G, St. Joseph's (junior)
High school players
This would be the tenth straight year in a row where at least one high school player would declare their entry into the NBA draft directly out of high school after previously only allowing it one time back in 1975. It would also be famous for marking the third (and currently final) time that a #1 pick was selected directly out of high school. This year also saw players like LaMarcus Aldridge, Jermaine Bell, Ivan Chiriaev, and Maurice Shaw all initially declare entry for this year's draft, but ultimately withdraw from it and decide to enter college instead. The following high school players successfully applied for early draft entrance.
- Jackie Butler, F, Coastal Christian Academy (Virginia Beach, Virginia)
- Dwight Howard, C, Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy (Atlanta, Georgia)
- Al Jefferson, F, Prentiss HS (Prentiss, Mississippi)
- Shaun Livingston, G, Peoria HS (Peoria, Illinois)
- J. R. Smith, G, St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, New Jersey)
- Josh Smith, F, Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia)
- Robert Swift, C, Bakersfield HS (Bakersfield, California)
- Dorell Wright, G/F, South Kent (South Kent, Connecticut)
- Sebastian Telfair, G, Lincoln HS (Brooklyn, New York)
International players
The following international players successfully applied for early draft entrance.
- Andris Biedriņš, F, Skonto (Latvia)
- Hamed Haddadi, C, Paykan Tehran (Iran)
- Arturas Kaubrys, F, Neptūnas (Lithuania)
- Sergei Monia, G/F, CSKA Moscow (Russia)
- Pavel Podkolzin, C, Metis Varese (Italy)
- Peter John Ramos, C, Criollos de Caguas (Puerto Rico)
- Jaber Rouzbahani, C, Zob Ahan Isfahan (Iran)
- Ha Seung-jin, C, Yonsei University (South Korea)
- Jerry Sokoloski, C, Father Henry Carr Catholic Secondary (Canada)
- Sasha Vujačić, G, Snaidero Udine (Italy)
Automatically eligible entrants
Players who do not meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:
- They have no remaining college eligibility.
- If they graduated from high school in the U.S., but did not enroll in a U.S. college or university, four years have passed since their high school class graduated.
- They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA, anywhere in the world, and have played under the contract.
Players who meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria:
- They are at least 22 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In term of dates players born on or before December 31, 1982, were automatically eligible for the 2004 draft.
- They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA within the United States, and have played under that contract.
| Player | Team | Note | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Caporn | Wollongong Hawks (Australia) | Left Saint Mary's in 2003; playing professionally since the 2003-04 season |
04Invited attendees
The 2004 NBA draft is considered to be the 26th NBA draft to have utilized what is properly considered the "green room" experience for NBA prospects. The NBA's green room is a staging area where anticipated draftees often sit with their families and representatives, waiting for their names to be called on draft night. Often being positioned either in front of or to the side of the podium (in this case, being positioned somewhere within The Theater at Madison Square Garden), once a player heard his name, he would walk to the podium to shake hands and take promotional photos with the NBA commissioner. From there, the players often conducted interviews with various media outlets while backstage. From there, the players often conducted interviews with various media outlets while backstage. However, once the NBA draft started to air nationally on TV starting with the 1980 NBA draft, the green room evolved from players waiting to hear their name called and then shaking hands with these select players who were often called to the hotel to take promotional pictures with the NBA commissioner a day or two after the draft concluded to having players in real-time waiting to hear their names called up and then shaking hands with David Stern, the NBA's commissioner at the time.
The NBA compiled its list of green room invites through collective voting by the NBA's team presidents and general managers alike, which in this year's case belonged to only what they believed were the top 15 prospects at the time. Despite the higher amount of invites for this year's draft when compared to the previous year's draft, there would still be a couple of discrepancies involved with the invitations at hand with the missing invitation for #10 pick Luke Jackson and the missing invite for future All-NBA Team member Al Jefferson. With that in mind, the following players were invited to attend this year's draft festivities live and in person.
- Rafael Araújo, C, Brigham Young
- / Ben Gordon, SG, Connecticut
- Andris Biedriņš, C, Skonto Rīga (Latvia)
- Josh Childress, SG/SF, Stanford
- // Luol Deng, SF/PF, Duke
- Devin Harris, PG, Wisconsin
- Dwight Howard, C, Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy (Atlanta, Georgia)
- Andre Iguodala, SG/SF, Arizona
- Shaun Livingston, PG, Peoria Central High School (Peoria, Illinois)
- Sergei Monia, SG/SF, PBC CSKA Moscow (Russia)
- Jameer Nelson, PG, Saint Joseph's
- / Emeka Okafor, PF/C, Connecticut
- Pavel Podkolzin, C, Metis Varese (Italy)
- Josh Smith, SF/PF, Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia)
- Kirk Snyder, SG, Nevada
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “2004 NBA draft”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- 2004 NBA Draft logo.png by Unknown author, Fair use
- Dwight Howard.jpg by Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Okafor.jpg by Bradley P. Johnson on flickr.com, CC BY 2.0
- Devin Harris Nets 2009 (cropped).jpg by Chamber of Fear, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Luol Deng Wizards.jpg by Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Andre Iguodala.jpg by Gilbert_Arenas_and_Andre_Iguodala_2.jpg: Keith Allison from Owings Mills, USA derivative work: Chrishmt0423 (talk), CC BY-SA 2.0
- Al Jefferson Bobcats freethrow.JPG by Pkantz, CC BY-SA 3.0
- J.R. Smith 2011 cropped.jpg by Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Jameer Nelson 5417138917.jpg by Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0
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