The 1992 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1992, at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. The top three picks (Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner) were considered can't-miss prospects. All three are Hall of Famers (Naismith & FIBA); O'Neal and Mourning are (individual) player-inducted, whereas Laettner is team-inducted. Laettner made one All-Star game in his career and was an Olympic Gold Medalist on the 1992 Dream Team, but did not live up to the lofty expectations set for him. The trio would end up playing together on the 2005 Miami Heat. Two other players went on to become All-Stars (Tom Gugliotta once, Latrell Sprewell four times) and several others had solid careers (Jimmy Jackson, Robert Horry, Doug Christie, P.J. Brown, LaPhonso Ellis, Jon Barry, Walt Williams, Anthony Peeler, and Clarence Weatherspoon). Harold Miner, who was given the nickname "Baby Jordan" because of his similarities to Michael Jordan, slipped to number 12 and, other than winning two slam dunk contests, only had a brief, uneventful, and injury prone four-year career.
This was the first time the NBA draft was held outside of New York.
Notable undrafted players
These players were not selected in the 1992 NBA draft but have played at least one game in the NBA.
Early entrants
College underclassmen
For the tenth year in a row and the fourteenth time in fifteen years, no college underclassman would withdraw their entry into the NBA draft. Not only that, but this would also be the first year since 1985 where no underclassmen playing overseas would enter the NBA draft and would be the first draft since 1986 with no foreign-born underclassmen as well. This year would see a total of sixteen college underclassmen entering the draft. The following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.
- Ameer Aziz – F, Saint Paul's (Virginia) (junior)
- John Beauford – C, Southern Poly (junior)
- Anthony Cade – F, Seminole JC (sophomore)
- Mark Chappell – G, Iowa State (junior)
- Dallas Lee Cothrum – G, Austin (junior)
- Jim Jackson – G, Ohio State (junior)
- Troy King – F, Beaver County CC (sophomore)
- Benny Maxwell – G, Western New Mexico (junior)
- Harold Miner – G, USC (junior)
- Tracy Murray – F, UCLA (junior)
- Shaquille O'Neal – C, LSU (junior)
- Melvin Robinson – C, Arizona State (junior)
- Tony Scott – F, Texas A&M (junior)
- Jeff Theiler – F, La Verne (junior)
- Mike Wawrzyniak – G, Cleveland State (junior)
- Marcus Webb – F, Alabama (junior)
Invited attendees
The 1992 NBA draft is considered to be the fifteenth 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 Veterans Memorial Coliseum building in Portland, Oregon), 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 14 prospects at the time. Despite the large amount of invites and them successfully avoiding any inviting prospects waiting into the second round (to the point where four errors were in mind from getting a perfectly ordered invited attendees line-up this time around), the only notable absence from this group would be (the controversial) Latrell Sprewell from the University of Alabama. With that in mind, the following players were invited to attend this year's draft festivities live and in person.
- Doug Christie – SG, Pepperdine
- Todd Day – SG, Arkansas
- LaPhonso Ellis – PF, Notre Dame
- Tom Gugliotta – PF, North Carolina State
- Robert Horry – SF, Alabama
- Jimmy Jackson – SG, Ohio State
- Harold Miner – SG, USC
- Alonzo Mourning – C, Georgetown
- Tracy Murray – SF, UCLA
- Shaquille O'Neal – C, LSU
- Malik Sealy – SF, St. John's
- Bryant Stith – SG, Virginia
- Clarence Weatherspoon – PF, Southern Mississippi
- Walt Williams – SF, Maryland