<P> Some players must be at least 19 years of age during the calendar year of the draft, and a player who completed basketball eligibility at an American high school must also be at least one year removed from the graduation of his high school class . Restrictions exist on players signing with sports agents and on declaring for, then withdrawing from, drafts--although most of them are enforced by the NCAA rather than the NBA . There had been only 44 draftees from high school to college to play in the NBA throughout this process . Any players who are not an "international player" must be at least one year out of the graduation of his high school class in order for them to qualify for the upcoming draft . Not many high school players went directly to the NBA draft for almost 20 years after Darryl Dawkins in 1975 because of the exposure of the college games . </P> <P> In the early years of the draft, teams would select players until they ran out of prospects . The 1960 and 1968 drafts went 21 rounds . By 1974, it had stabilized to 10 rounds (except 1977, when the rounds were eight), which held up until 1985, when the draft was shortened to seven rounds . By agreement with the National Basketball Players Association, the drafts from 1989 onward have been limited to two rounds, which gives undrafted players the chance to try out for any team . </P> <P> From 2009 through 2015, the college underclassmen had until the day before the April signing period to withdraw their name from the draft and retain NCAA eligibility . Since 2016, players could enter the draft and participate in the NBA Draft Combine multiple times and retain NCAA eligibility by withdrawing from the draft within 10 days after the end of the mid-May NBA draft combine . </P> <P> The NBA Draft Lottery is an annual event held by the NBA, where the teams who did not make the playoffs in the past year participate in a state - lottery style process in order to determine the first three picks of the draft, until 2018 . The team with the worst record receives the best odds of receiving the first pick . The NBA introduced the lottery process in 1985 . The league was attempting to counter accusations that certain teams were purposefully losing in order to gain a chance to participate in the annual coin flip, where the worst team in each division flips a coin to see who will receive the first pick in the upcoming draft . In 2019, the first four picks will be determined . </P>

How long is each pick in the nba draft