| First Round | Player | College |
| 1. Cleveland (from LA Clippers) | Brad Daugherty | North Carolina |
| 2. Boston (from Seattle) | Len Bias | Maryland |
| 3. Golden State | Chris Washburn | North Carolina State |
| 4. Indiana | Chuck Person | Auburn |
| 5. New York | Kenny Walker | Kentucky |
| 6. Phoenix | William Bedford | Memphis State |
| 7. Dallas (from Cleveland) | Roy Tarpley | Michigan |
| 8. Cleveland | Ron Harper | Miami (Ohio) |
| 9. Chicago | Brad Sellers | Ohio State |
| 10. San Antonio | Johnny Dawkins | Duke |
| 11. Detroit (from Sacramento) | John Salley | Georgia Tech |
| 12. Washington | John Williams | Louisiana State |
| 13. New Jersey | Dwayne Washington | Syracuse |
| 14. Portland | Walter Berry | St. John's |
| 15. Utah | Dell Curry | Virginia Tech |
| 16. Denver (from Dallas) | Mo Martin | St. Joseph's |
| 17. Sacramento (from Detroit) | Harold Pressley | Villanova |
| 18. Denver | Mark Alarie | Duke |
| 19. Atlanta (1) | Billy Thompson | Louisville |
| 20. Houston | Buck Johnson | Alabama |
| 21. Washington (from Phil.) | Anthony Jones | Nevada-Las Vegas |
| 22. Milwaukee | Scott Skiles | Michigan State |
| 23. LA Lakers (1) | Ken Barlow | Notre Dame |
| 24. Portland (from Boston) | Arvidas Sabonis | None (Soviet Union) |
Notes:
(1) Atlanta traded draft rights to Billy Thompson and Ron Kellogg to Los Angeles Lakers for Mike McGee and draft rights to Ken Barlow.
