The NBA, as part of its negotiations with the players' union, came up with more satisfactory terms for the evolution of a development league. Gone is the NBDL moniker, replaced with a negotiation-approved name: The D-League, which held its annual draft on Thursday, November 3, 2005.
The D-League's draft, held in Greenville, South Carolina, one of the last of the original NBDL cities, on November 3, delivered as its no. 1 pick Andre Barrett, the 5-11, 175 lb. point guard from Seton Hall to the Florida Flame, which had the number one overall selection in the 2005 NBA Development League Draft.
Barrett split the 2004-05 season in the NBA with the Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic, playing in 38 games. He was a first-team All-Big East Selection as a senior at Seton Hall, where he finished his career second in career assists with 662. He started all 122 games in his collegiate career, averaging 15.3 points, 5.4 assists and 3.7 rebounds.
Other D-League first round selections included: Center Nigel Dixon to the Fayetteville Patriots, SF Ime Udoka (Fort Worth Flyers), SF Harvey Thomas (Arkansas RimRockers), PG Will Bynum (Roanoke Dazzle), SF Chuck Hayes (Albuquerque Thunderbirds), SG Bernard King (Tulsa 66ers) and PF Jamar Smith (Austin Toros).
Changes in the deal with the NBA Players Union will allow more movement between the D-League and NBA clubs. The NBA will be "batch" affiliating D-League clubs to NBA teams, offering players in the D-League more opportunities of at least seeing a cup of coffee in the majors.
Eighty players were chosen in the ten round event, eight per round. Moves were made by conference call.
This was the first year that the NBA D-League Draft was televised on NBA-TV live. Several of the teams held draft parties to celebrate the roll-out of the league into new markets like Fort Worth, Albuquerque, and Tulsa.
The 2005 NBA D-League Draft rolled out as follows:
