Portland Trail Blazers draft history
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The Portland Trail Blazers are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise was founded in the 1970–71 NBA season.[1] The team made their first draft pick in the 1970 NBA draft and have selected 279 players total.[2] The franchise won its only NBA championship in 1977, when the team was led by their 1974 first overall pick, Bill Walton, as well as multiple other former draft picks who went on to have their numbers retired by Portland. Many of the players selected have gone on to have accomplished careers while playing for the team. Clyde Drexler and Damian Lillard hold multiple Blazer records and are first in many stats. Along with Walton and Drexler, two other draft picks, Dražen Petrović and Arvydas Sabonis, went on to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame after their playing careers ended, with Petrović being inducted posthumously.
Portland has held the first overall pick four times, selecting Walton in 1974, LaRue Martin in 1972, Mychal Thompson in 1978, and Greg Oden in 2007. Three players drafted by Portland won the Rookie of the Year award. Geoff Petrie, the franchise's first ever draft pick, was named co-Rookie of the Year with Dave Cowens of the Boston Celtics in 1971. Sidney Wicks won the award the next season after being selected second overall in the 1971 NBA draft, and Lillard won in 2013 after being drafted sixth overall in the 2012 NBA draft.