The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The New Orleans Hornets, who had a 13.70 percent probability of obtaining the first selection, won the NBA draft lottery on May 30. The Charlotte Bobcats and the Washington Wizards were second and third, respectively. This draft marked the first time that the first two players selected were from the same school (Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist were teammates at Kentucky). It also set a record of having six players from one school (Kentucky) being selected in the two rounds of the draft and was the first draft to have the first three selections be college freshmen all from the same conference (Southeastern Conference). Bernard James was the oldest player drafted in an NBA draft, being 27 years old at the time of the draft.

The draft contained seven players who combined for 10 championships as well as having Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard both named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021. Six players have participated in an All-Star Game. Draymond Green won NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022, as well as being named to the All-NBA second team in 2016 and the third team in 2017. Green was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2017, while also leading the league in steals that season. He was named to the All-Defensive first team in 2015–2017, 2021, and 2025, and named to the second team in 2018–2019 and 2022–2023. He was an All-Star in 2016–2018 and 2022. Anthony Davis won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and was All-NBA 5 times; first team in 2015, 2017–2018, and 2020, and second team in 2024. Davis was named to the All-Defensive first team in 2018, 2020, and 2024, and second team in 2015 and 2017. He was the NBA blocks leader in 2014, 2015, and 2018. Davis was an All-Star from 2014–2021, and 2024–2025, as well as the NBA All Star Game MVP in 2017. Damian Lillard became the fourth player to be unanimously named Rookie of the Year. Lillard was a member of the All-NBA first team in 2018, second team in 2016, 2019–2021, and third team in 2014, 2023. He was an All-Star in 2014, 2015, 2018–2021, and 2023–2025, the All-Star Game MVP in 2024, as well as the winner of the Three-Point Contest in 2023, 2024, and 2026. Khris Middleton won a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021 and was selected as an All-Star in 2019–2020, and 2022. As of 2025, Davis, Bradley Beal, Lillard, Harrison Barnes, Andre Drummond, Green, and Middleton are the only players from this draft who are still playing in the NBA.

Of the players drafted, 30 were forwards, 21 were guards, and 9 were centers. The draft marked the first appearance of the Brooklyn Nets and the last draft appearance for the New Orleans Hornets. After the 2012–13 season, the franchise was renamed as the New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans made their first draft appearance as the Pelicans in 2013. Four of the players selected in this draft never played in an NBA game throughout their professional basketball careers. Two of those players were the sole selection of the draft by their respective teams: İlkan Karaman (Brooklyn's only pick) and Marcus Denmon (San Antonio's only pick).

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These players were not selected in the 2012 NBA Draft but have played at least one game in the NBA.

The first 14 picks in the draft belong to teams that missed the playoffs; the order was determined through a lottery. The lottery was only used to determine the teams that obtained the first three picks in the draft. The remaining first-round picks and the second-round picks were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. To determine the top three picks, fourteen ping pong balls numbered 1–14 were placed into a lottery machine. Four random balls were selected for each of the three picks and there were a total of 1,001 combinations. The lottery was weighted so that the teams with the worst records had better chances at the first pick. For example, the Charlotte Bobcats had the worst record from the previous season, so they were assigned 250 of the 1,001 combinations, which meant they had a 25% chance of getting the first pick.

The lottery was held on May 30, 2012, in the Disney/ABC Times Square Studio in New York City. The New Orleans Hornets won the rights to the first overall selection with a 13.7% chance to win. The Hornets were a league-owned team at the time, leading to continued conspiracy theories about the lottery process. The Bobcats won the second overall pick despite having the highest odds to win the lottery.

Below were the chances for each team to get specific picks in the 2012 draft lottery, rounded to three decimal places.