Three of the top seven picks taken in the N.B.A. draft on Thursday did not play college basketball, only the second time that had happened since the 2006 draft, when the N.B.A. began to require draftees to be at least one year removed from high school.
Two of the players — including Kristaps Porzingis, selected fourth by the Knicks — have played internationally their whole careers, while the third, Emmanuel Mudiay, whom the Denver Nuggets drafted at No. 7, was a high school standout in Dallas before spending the past season as a professional on the Guangdong Southern Tigers in China.