The top pick of the draft was Syracuse's Derrick Coleman who was selected by the New Jersey Nets. In total, 52 of the 54 players selected went on to play at least one competitive game in the NBA, and six players were at some point of their career selected to play in the NBA All-Star Game. One player who had been projected to be a lottery pick as well as possibly the number one by media outlets and draft analysts was Loyola Marymount's Hank Gathers, who died of a heart condition in March 1990 after collapsing during a game.
For the eighth year in a row and the twelfth time in thirteen years, no college underclassman would withdraw their entry into the NBA draft. Not only that, but this would be the fifth year in a row where a player that qualified for the status of a "college underclassman" would be playing professional basketball overseas, with former Grambling State University player Jesse Spinner going to Austria to play professionally for the Sefra Tyrolia. Including him, that expands the number of underclassmen for this year out to fourteen total players. Regardless, the following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.[5]
This would be the fifth year in a row with at least one player that previously played in college entering the NBA draft as an underclassman, as well as the first year where a player didn't go out to either Italy or France to play overseas professionally first.
^Nationality indicates the player's national team or representative nationality. If a player has not competed at the international level, then the nationality indicates the national team which the player is eligible to represent according to FIBA rules.
^Chris Jackson changed his name to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf in 1993.[4]
