The 1987 NBA draft was held on June 22, 1987, in New York City.
This draft included two future members of the NBA 50 Greatest Players and the basketball Hall of Fame, David Robinson and Scottie Pippen, as well as fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, who was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. Other notable selections include Kevin Johnson, Kenny Smith, Horace Grant, Reggie Lewis, Muggsy Bogues, Mark Jackson, and Šarūnas Marčiulionis. Also in this draft was former Florida Gators men's basketball head coach Billy Donovan (drafted 68th by the Utah Jazz), who led that program to NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championships in 2006 and in 2007.
David Robinson did not join the NBA until the 1989–90 season due to his service commitment with the United States Navy. This was the last NBA draft to go over three rounds, as it was reduced to three the next year and later to two since 1989.
Notable undrafted players
These players were not selected in the draft but still appeared in at least one regular or postseason NBA game.
Early entrants
College underclassmen
For the fifth year in a row and the ninth time in ten years, no college underclassman would withdraw their entry into the NBA draft. However, it would be the second year in a row that a player that qualified for the status of a "college underclassman" would be playing professional basketball overseas, as the Haitian born Olden Polynice (who had previously played for the University of Virginia for a year before travelling to Italy to play for the Hamby Rimini) would qualify as an official entry there. Not only that, but it would also be the first time in NBA history (second time if you include the 1973 entry of David Brent from the Carolina Cougars in the rivaling ABA after previously playing for Jacksonville University) that an underclassman would declare entry by playing in another American basketball league (in this case, Ricky Brown previously going from the University of South Alabama to the Pensacola Tornados of the Continental Basketball Association minor league) first before entering an NBA draft. If those two players get included into the list properly, the number of "college underclassmen" that would qualify for this year's draft would increase from seven to nine total players. Regardless, these following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.
- Vincent Askew – F, Memphis (junior)
- Norris Coleman – F, Kansas State (sophomore)
- Kenny Drummond – G, High Point (junior)
- Derrick McKey – F, Alabama (junior)
- Russell Pierre – F, Virginia Tech (junior)
- Reinhard Schmuck – F, Baruch (junior)
- Kevin Smith – F, Minnesota (junior)
Other eligible players
This would be the second year in a row that a player that previously played in college would enter the NBA draft as an underclassman (coincidentally also playing for an Italian basketball team while doing so). Not only that, but this would also be the second year in NBA history (third if you include David Brent's 1973 NBA draft entry while he was a part of the Carolina Cougars in the rivaling American Basketball Association) that an underclassman would enter the NBA draft by playing in another American basketball league (in this case, the Continental Basketball Association minor league) first; the first case happened in 1971 with Joe Hammond from the Allentown Jets in what was formerly called the Eastern Basketball Association. It was also the first year where a foreign-born player would qualify as an underclassman while also playing for an international team.
Invited attendees
The 1987 NBA draft is considered to be the tenth NBA draft to have utilized what's 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 in the Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum for the sixth year in a row), 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. 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 16 prospects at the time.
However, despite the large amount of invites this year when compared to previous years, there are many notable things about the listing that would still be in mind here, such as the absences of future Hall of Famers David Robinson and Reggie Miller and multi-time All-Star Kevin Johnson, the first foreign team player invite via Olden Polynice, and both Ron Moore and Andre Moore going into the second round. Even so, the following players were invited to attend this year's draft festivities live and in person.
- Cadillac Anderson – PF, Houston
- Muggsy Bogues – PG, Wake Forest
- Dallas Comegys – C, DePaul
- Tellis Frank – PF, Western Kentucky
- Armen Gilliam – PF, UNLV
- Horace Grant – PF/C, Clemson
- Dennis Hopson – SF, Ohio State
- Mark Jackson – PG, St. John's
- Derrick McKey – SF/PF, Alabama
- Andre Moore – PF, Loyola (IL)
- Ron Moore – C, West Virginia State
- José Ortiz – PF, Oregon State
- Scottie Pippen – SF, Central Arkansas
- Olden Polynice – C, Hamby Rimini (Italy)
- Kenny Smith – PG, North Carolina
- Reggie Williams – SF, Georgetown