| First Round | Player | College |
| 1. New York | Patrick Ewing | Georgetown |
| 2. Indiana | Wayman Tisdale | Oklahoma |
| 3. LA Clippers | Benoit Benjamin | Creighton |
| 4. Seattle | Xavier McDaniel | Wichita State |
| 5. Atlanta | Jon Koncak | Southern Methodist |
| 6. Sacramento | Joe Kleine | Arkansas |
| 7. Golden State | Chris Mullin | St. John's |
| 8. Dallas (from Cleveland) | Detlef Schrempf | Washington |
| 9. Cleveland (1) | Charles Oakley | Virginia Union |
| 10. Phoenix | Ed Pinckney | Villanova |
| 11. Chicago (1) | Keith Lee | Memphis State |
| 12. Washington | Kenny Green | Wake Forest |
| 13. Utah | Karl Malone | Louisiana Tech |
| 14. San Antonio | Alfredrick Hughes | Loyola (Ill.) |
| 15. Denver (from Portland) | Blair Rasmussen | Oregon |
| 16. Dallas (from New Jersey) | Bill Wennington | St. John's |
| 17. Dallas | Uwe Blab | Indiana |
| 18. Detroit | Joe Dumars | McNeese State |
| 19. Houston | Steve Harris | Tulsa |
| 20. Boston (from Denver) | Sam Vincent | Michigan State |
| 21. Philadelphia | Terry Catledge | South Alabama |
| 22. Milwaukee | Jerry Reynolds | Louisiana State |
| 23. LA Lakers | A.C. Green | Oregon State |
| 24. Portland (from Boston) | Terry Porter | Wisconsin-Stevens Point |
Notes:
(1) Chicago traded Ennis Whatley and draft rights to Keith Lee to Cleveland for draft rights to Charles Oakley and Calvin Duncan.
