The 1995 NBA Expansion Draft was the tenth expansion draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 24, 1995, so that the newly founded Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies could acquire players for the upcoming 1995–96 season. Toronto was awarded an expansion team on September 30, 1993,[1] while Vancouver was awarded the league's 29th franchise on April 27, 1994.[2] They were the first NBA teams based in Canada since the 1946–47 seasonToronto Huskies.[1] In an NBA expansion draft, new NBA teams are allowed to acquire players from the previously established teams in the league. Not all players on a given team are available during an expansion draft, since each team can protect a certain number of players from being selected. In this draft, each of the twenty-seven other NBA teams had protected eight players from their roster, and the Raptors and the Grizzlies selected fourteen and thirteen unprotected players respectively, one from each team. Prior to the draft, the league conducted a coin flip between the Raptors and the Grizzlies to decide their draft order in this expansion draft and in the 1995 NBA Draft. The Grizzlies won the coin flip and chose to have the higher pick in the 1995 Draft, allowing the Raptors to receive the first selection and the right to select fourteen players in the expansion draft.[2]
The Grizzlies were formed and owned by Vancouver sports magnate Arthur Griffiths. Former Atlanta Hawks assistant coach Brian Winters was hired as the franchise's first head coach. The Grizzlies used their first pick to select former first-round pick Greg Anthony from the New York Knicks. The Grizzlies' other selections included three-time NBA champion Byron Scott and three other former first-round picks, Benoit Benjamin, Doug Edwards and Blue Edwards. On draft day, the Grizzlies acquired a second-round draft pick from the Orlando Magic in exchange for selecting Rodney Dent, who had never played in the NBA.[3] Eight players from the expansion draft joined the Grizzlies for their inaugural season, but only Anthony and Blue Edwards played more than one season for the team.
Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of future draft picks between the teams, along with a particular agreement in the expansion draft.
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^"Byron Scott Statistics". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 6 September 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
^"Ed Pinckney Statistics". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
^"Gerald Wilkins Statistics". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
^"Benoit Benjamin Statistics". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 30 August 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
^"Blue Edwards Statistics". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
^"Oliver Miller Statistics". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 27 September 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2010.