The 1981 NBA draft was the 35th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 9, 1981, before the 1981–82 season. The draft was broadcast in the United States on the USA Network. In this draft, 23 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The first two picks in the draft belonged to the teams that finished last in each conference, with the order determined by a coin flip. The Dallas Mavericks won the coin flip and were awarded the first overall pick, while the Detroit Pistons were awarded the second pick. The remaining first-round picks and the subsequent rounds were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was automatically eligible for selection. Before the draft, five college underclassmen announced that they would leave college early and would be eligible for selection. The draft consisted of 10 rounds comprising the selection of 223 players. The Dallas Mavericks used their first pick to draft 1980 Naismith College Player of the Year Mark Aguirre from DePaul University. Aguirre, who had just finished his junior season in college, became the second underclassman to be drafted first overall, after Magic Johnson in 1979. The Detroit Pistons used the second overall pick to draft Isiah Thomas, a sophomore guard from Indiana University. Thomas had just won the 1981 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship with Indiana and was named as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. The New Jersey Nets used the third pick to draft another underclassman, Buck Williams, from the University of Maryland. Williams went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award and was also selected to the All-Star Game in his rookie season. This draft marked the first time that the first three selections were college underclassmen. Danny Ainge, the 1981 Wooden College Player of the Year, was selected in the second round with the 31st pick by the Boston Celtics. Ainge had been playing professional baseball since 1979 with the Toronto Blue Jays in the Major League Baseball (MLB) while also playing college basketball at Brigham Young University. He reportedly preferred to continue his baseball career, but the Celtics successfully persuaded him to play basketball instead. He is one of only twelve athletes who have played in both the NBA and MLB.

Key

Draft

Notable undrafted players

These players were not selected in the 1981 draft but played at least one game in the NBA.

Trades

Draft-day trades

The following trades involving drafted players were made on the day of the draft.

Pre-draft trades

Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of picks between the teams.

Draftee career notes

Isiah Thomas is the only player from this draft who has been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was also named in the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History list announced at the league's 50th anniversary in 1996. He spent his entire 13-year career with the Detroit Pistons and won two NBA championships. He also one Finals Most Valuable Player Award, five consecutive All-NBA Team selections and twelve consecutive All-Star Game selections. After retiring as a player, Thomas went on to have a coaching career with the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks. Mark Aguirre, the first pick, won two NBA championships with Thomas and the Pistons. His other achievements include three All-Star Game selections. Buck Williams, the third pick, was selected to one All-NBA Team, three All-Star Games and four All-Defensive Teams. Tom Chambers, the eighth pick, was selected to two All-NBA Teams and four All-Star Games. Five other players from this draft, seventh pick Steve Johnson, ninth pick Rolando Blackman, 12th pick Kelly Tripucka, 20th pick Larry Nance and 31st pick Danny Ainge, were also selected to at least one All-Star Game each. Eddie Johnson, the 29th pick, is the only other player from this draft who has won an annual NBA award as a player; he won the Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1989. Aside from Thomas, four other players drafted also went on to have coaching careers in the NBA: Danny Ainge, 11th pick Frank Johnson, 14th pick Herb Williams and 179th pick Jay Triano. In the eighth round, the Golden State Warriors used the 171st pick to selected Yasutaka Okayama, a Japanese basketball player who was measured at 7 ft and 330 lb. Okayama, who attended and played junior varsity basketball at the University of Portland for one and a half years in 1976 as an exchange student, declined to try out for the Warriors and never played in the NBA. He is the tallest person ever drafted and would have been the tallest player in the NBA had he played in the league. The San Diego Clippers used their last pick in the draft, the 210th pick, to draft Tony Gwynn, who starred at both baseball and basketball at San Diego State University. Gwynn was also selected in the 1981 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres. He opted to play baseball and ended up playing 20 seasons with the Padres. He received multiple awards and honors during his playing career, is one of only 28 players in MLB history with 3,000 career hits, and was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame at his first opportunity in. Kenny Easley, a college football star from the University of California, Los Angeles, was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 216th pick in the 10th round. Easley, who was selected fourth in the 1981 National Football League (NFL) draft by the Seattle Seahawks, played seven seasons with the Seahawks and received several awards and honors before retiring in 1988 due to kidney problems that eventually led to a transplant.

Early entrants

College underclassmen

For the fourth year in a row, no college underclassman would withdraw their entry into the NBA draft. Just like the first time this happened, though, only five total players would officially enter this year's draft under that moniker. Leonel Marquetti would become the first official foreign-born college underclassman to qualify for this rule (in his case, being born Cuban while raised as an American), as previous years only had American-born players that fit the criteria at the time. The following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.