1982 NBA draft

The 1982 NBA draft took place on June 29, 1982, at the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.

The #1 selection from this year's draft, James Worthy, was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers despite them being one of the best teams in the NBA the previous season. Their selection at #1 this year related to a previous trade that the Lakers made with the Cleveland Cavaliers, which had them trading their first round pick for Don Ford back in 1979. Worthy would help the Lakers turn the Showtime Lakers into a dynasty for the 1980s decade. Meanwhile, continued first round trade considerations that the Cavaliers' owner at the time, Ted Stepien, led to the NBA stopping any further trades with him and the team's draft picks before he traded selections throughout the entire decade, as well as led to the creation of the Ted Stepien Rule forbidding teams of trading first round draft picks in back-to-back years unless a team had a different first round pick that they kept during that time.