The 1997 NBA draft took place on June 25, 1997, at Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Vancouver Grizzlies had the highest probability to win the NBA draft lottery, but since they were an expansion team along with the Toronto Raptors they were not allowed to select first in this draft. Although the Boston Celtics had the second-worst record in the 1996–97 season and the best odds (36 percent) of winning the lottery with two picks, the Spurs lost David Robinson and Sean Elliott to injury early in the season, finished with the third-worst record, and subsequently won the lottery. Leading up to the draft, there was no doubt that Tim Duncan would be selected at No. 1 by the Spurs as he was considered to be far and away the best prospect. After Duncan, the rest of the draft was regarded with some skepticism. The Celtics had the third and sixth picks, selecting Chauncey Billups and Ron Mercer, both of whom were traded in the next two years.
Duncan became the Spurs' franchise player and in a 19-year career spent entirely in San Antonio, he led the Spurs to five NBA championships, winning NBA Finals MVP in three of those campaigns. In addition, Duncan was a two-time NBA MVP, 15-time All-Star, 15-time All-NBA and 15-time All-Defensive team selection. Billups went on to earn five All-Star selections and won Finals MVP honors in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons. The ninth pick, Tracy McGrady, captured two NBA scoring titles and was named to seven All-Star and All-NBA teams.
The Washington Wizards forfeited their 1997 first-round pick in connection with the signing of Juwan Howard. (Washington would have had the 17th pick.) Thus, the draft only had 28 first-round selections and 57 selections overall.
Notable undrafted players
These players eligible for the 1997 NBA Draft were not selected but played in the NBA.
Early entrants
College underclassmen
This year saw a continued rise of collegiate underclassmen and other players of similar nature declaring entry into the NBA draft. This year initially saw a total of 47 eligible players enter the draft at first, but seven of these players (including Cory Carr from Texas Tech University, former DePaul University player Ronnie Fields from the St. Paul Slam! in the International Basketball Association, the Greek born Dimitrios Papanikolaou of the Olympiacos Piraeus B.C. in Greece, Larell Redic from Utah State University, Dawood Thomas from the California University of Pennsylvania, the Turkish-Yugoslavian born Mirsad Türkcan of the Efes Pilsen in Turkey, and the Argentinian-Spanish born Lucas Victoriano of the Olimpia Venado Tuerto in Argentina) would later decline their entry for this year's draft. Including the likes of high school phenom Tracy McGrady from Mount Zion Christian Academy, the Slovenian born Marko Milič of the Smelt Olimpija in Slovenia, and former Central Connecticut State University player Keith Closs of the Norwich Neptunes from the Atlantic Basketball Association minor league, the number of qualified underclassmen would increase from 37 only in college to 40 total players. Regardless, the following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.
- Gracen Averil – G, Texas Tech (junior)
- Tony Battie – F/C, Texas Tech (junior)
- Chauncey Billups – G, Colorado (sophomore)
- Carl Blanton – F, Sinclair CC (junior)
- Mark Blount – C/F, Pittsburgh (sophomore)
- C. J. Bruton – G, Indian Hills CC (sophomore)
- Dan Buie – F, Washburn (junior)
- James Cotton – G, Long Beach State (junior)
- Tony Doyle – F, Columbia (junior)
- Ian Folmar – F, Slippery Rock (junior)
- Danny Fortson – F, Cincinnati (junior)
- Adonal Foyle – C/F, Colgate (junior)
- Darryl Hardy – F, Winston–Salem State (junior)
- Antjonne Holmes – F, Central Baptist (freshman)
- Troy Hudson – G, Southern Illinois (junior)
- Marc Jackson – F/C, Temple
- Stephen Jackson – F/G, Butler CC (freshman)
- Ed Jenkins – F, Ohio State (junior)
- Marcus Johnson – F, Long Beach State (junior)
- Damon Jones – G, Houston (junior)
- Nate Langley – G, George Mason (junior)
- Keith Love – G, Rosary (junior)
- Gordon Malone – F, West Virginia (junior)
- Amere May – F, Shaw (junior)
- Elgie McCoy – F, Kutztown (junior)
- Ron Mercer – G/F, Kentucky (sophomore)
- Victor Page – G, Georgetown (sophomore)
- Shawn Ritzie – G, Norwalk CC (sophomore)
- Paul Rogers – F/C, Gonzaga (junior)
- Bryon Ruffner – F, BYU (junior)
- Olivier Saint-Jean – San Jose State (junior)
- Mark Sanford – F, Washington (junior)
- God Shammgod – G, Providence (sophomore)
- Maurice Taylor – F, Michigan (junior)
- Tim Thomas – F, Villanova (freshman)
- Mark Young – F, Kansas State (junior)
High school players
This would be the third year in a row where high school players were allowed entry into the NBA draft after previously only doing it back in 1975. However, only one player would go directly from high school to enter the NBA this year. The following high school player successfully applied for early draft entrance.
- Tracy McGrady – G/F, Mount Zion Christian Academy (Durham, North Carolina)
International players
This year, only one international born player would officially enter the NBA draft after seeing three other international players initially declare their interest in entering this year's draft. The following international player successfully applied for early draft entrance.
- Marko Milič – G/F, Smelt Olimpija (Slovenia)
Other eligible players
This year marked the third time in NBA history (the first two times being in 1971 and 1987) that an eligible underclassman player of sorts would declare entry for an NBA draft by playing minor league basketball within the U.S.A. first (as well as have it be the first time that it wouldn't involve the Continental Basketball Association or its previous name in the Eastern Basketball Association). It would also be the fourth time that a player would declare entry while also playing in another American basketball league, with the second case of this occurring in 1973 with David Brent being allowed entry into the NBA draft despite him already playing for the Carolina Cougars of the rivaling American Basketball Association at the time.
Invited attendees
The 1997 NBA draft is considered to be the twentieth 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 somewhere within the Charlotte Coliseum), 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. 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 15 prospects at the time. Surprisingly, outside of the missing inclusion of Danny Fortson being the tenth pick of the draft, this would be the most accurate green room draft invitation group yet. With that in mind, the following players were invited to attend this year's draft festivities live and in person.
- Derek Anderson – SG, Kentucky
- Tony Battie – PF/C, Texas Tech
- Chauncey Billups – PG, Colorado
- Kelvin Cato – C, Iowa State
- Austin Croshere – PF, Providence
- Antonio Daniels – PG, Bowling Green
- / Tim Duncan – C, Wake Forest
- Adonal Foyle – C, Colgate
- Brevin Knight – PG, Stanford
- Tracy McGrady – SG/SF, Mount Zion Christian Academy (Durham, North Carolina)
- Ron Mercer – SF, Kentucky
- Olivier Saint-Jean – SF, San Jose State
- Maurice Taylor – PF, Michigan
- Tim Thomas – SF, Villanova
- Keith Van Horn – PF, Utah