UCLA’s 2024 NBA Draft Primer, News and Notes

The 2024 NBA Draft will take place on Wednesday, June 26, and Thursday, June 27, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn (New York). UCLA sophomore Adem Bona could be selected in the two-round draft format.

 

The NBA has altered the draft this season to stretch across two days, instead of including both the first and second rounds in one evening. The first round of the 2024 NBA Draft will take place on Wednesday evening, starting at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET) on ABC and ESPN television. The second round will occur on Thursday, starting at 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET) on ESPN.

 

DRAFT HISTORY

Since 1947, the UCLA men’s basketball program has produced 125 all-time draft selections, including 43 first-round picks. UCLA’s program has had at least one player selected in 22 of the last 27 NBA Drafts (spanning 1997 through 2023). The Bruins have logged 39 draft picks over the past 27 seasons.

 

UCLA ranks No. 2 among all colleges and universities with 125 total NBA Draft selections. Kentucky leads the country with 140 total selections. Standing behind Kentucky and UCLA are North Carolina (116 selections) and Duke (108 selections).

 

MOST RECENTLY

Last June, UCLA had three players selected in the 2023 NBA Draft. Jaime Jaquez Jr. was chosen at No. 18 by the Miami Heat in the first round. Amari Bailey was taken as the No. 41 selection by the Charlotte Hornets (second round), and Jaylen Clark was selected as the No. 53 pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves (second round).

 

Two years ago, Peyton Watson was selected in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft. Watson was acquired by the Denver Nuggets in a draft-day trade. Watson was the No. 30 overall pick, the final selection in that draft’s first round.

 

FIRST-ROUND NUMBERS

UCLA has produced 43 total first-round NBA Draft selections, with Jaime Jaquez Jr. being the most recent in that category (2023, Miami Heat). Other recent first-round picks from UCLA have included Peyton Watson (2022), Aaron Holiday (2018), Lonzo Ball (2017) and TJ Leaf (2017).

 

In June 2014, UCLA was the only program in the nation to have produced at least three first-round draft picks (Zach LaVine, Jordan Adams and Kyle Anderson). No college program had produced three or more first-round selections since 2012, when Kentucky had four first-round picks. Only once before in school history (1979) had UCLA produced at least three first-round draft selections.

 

MULTIPLE FIRST-ROUNDERS

UCLA has produced multiple first-round selections in 10 NBA Drafts (1969, 1971, 1974, 1979, 1992, 1995, 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2017).

 

AMONG THE PAC-12 CONFERENCE

UCLA leads all Pac-12 programs with 125 overall NBA Draft selections. Following UCLA, in order, are Arizona (78), USC (64), Washington (62), Oregon (55), Oregon State (44), Utah (44), California (43), Stanford (42), Arizona State (38), Colorado (36) and Washington State (32).

 

The Bruins’ program has produced 43 total first-round picks, the highest total among Pac-12 Conference schools. Arizona ranks second with 27 total first-round draft selections.

 

EYEING THE BIG TEN CONFERENCE

The Bruins will officially join the Big Ten Conference on Aug. 2, 2024. Looking at the current 14 programs in the Big Ten, Indiana currently leads that conference in all-time draft selections with 79. Michigan (78), Maryland (73) and Illinois (72) round out the top four schools. Following those programs, in order, are Michigan State (65), Iowa (58), Ohio State (56), Minnesota (54), Purdue (51), Wisconsin (41), Nebraska (29), Northwestern (28), Rutgers (20) and Penn State (15).

 

TWO-DRAFT ERA

UCLA is one of six schools to have produced at least 42 NBA Draft selections since 1989, when the draft shifted to a two-round format. The draft’s current format includes two rounds of 30 selections each. The 2024 NBA Draft features 58 total picks (including 28 second-round selections), as two teams were stripped of their second-round draft selections as a league penalty.

SINCE 1989, NBA DRAFT