Los Angeles - Blake Griffin had a pretty good idea where he was going, but he wasn't able to take a deep breath until the Los Angeles Clippers officially selected college basketball's consensus player of the year as the No 1 pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday night.

"It's a relief and good to know where I'm going is set in stone," Griffin said after hearing his name called first by NBA commissioner David Stern at the WAMU theatre inside New York's Madison Square Garden.

"I've been dreaming about this day ever since I knew what it was. I'm very excited to be a Clipper."

Minutes after winning the draft lottery last month, the Clippers proclaimed Griffin was their man. They kept their word by taking the 6-foot-10 power forward who averaged 22.7 points and a nation-best 14.4 rebounds in just his second year at Oklahoma.

"There was no question that Blake was the No. 1 player in the draft," Clippers general manager and coach Mike Dunleavy said. "He has great athleticism, explosiveness and a great work ethic.

"The fact is we're getting an incredible player, incredible person and a guy that we plan on having in LA for many years to come. He's going to be a great, exciting fit for our ball club."

Griffin will join a perennial losing Clipper franchise, which has had two only winning seasons in the last 30 and one playoff appearance since 1987.

"I'm not worried about anything that happened in the past," he said. "I wasn't a part of that and a lot of the other guys there now weren't a part of it. So we're only looking forward to the future."

Though the night clearly belonged to Griffin, some of his thunder was quieted by a pair of separate trades, hours earlier.

Cleveland officially announced the acquisition of 15-time All-Star centre Shaquille O'Neal from Phoenix to play alongside league-MVP LeBron James. In return, the Suns received Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, the 46th pick in the 2010 draft and cash.

Meanwhile, Carter, an eight-time All-Star, and reserve Ryan Anderson were dealt by New Jersey to Eastern Conference champion Orlando for Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee and Tony Battie.

Picking second, Memphis tabbed Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet, a defensive-minded 7-foot-3 centre with limited offensive skills who grew up playing soccer in Tanzania.

"He's the best shot blocker in the history of their school, and we couldn't afford to pass him by," said Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace. "Our defence is going to go up quantum leaps to what we've added to our young nucleus tonight.".

After the two big men, seven of the next eight picks were guards.

Oklahoma City selected Arizona State's high-scoring James Harden with the third pick, while Sacramento pegged Tyreke Evans next.

With the fifth and sixth picks, Minnesota chose 18-year-old Barcelona native Ricky Rubio, the flashy ball-handler who starred for DKV Joventut-Spain. He was followed by Syracuse's Jonny Flynn.

"Ricky can be transformational," new Timberwolves president David Kahn said. "I see him being an unbelievable orchestrator."

Rubio is the youngest to ever play in an Olympic basketball final when Spain lost to the United States last summer.

"It's helped me a lot because I played against the best players in the NBA," he said "So that means that I can play here."

Picking seventh, Golden State chose college scoring champ Stephen Curry from Davidson. New York used the eighth pick to take forward Jordan Hill from Arizona, while Toronto followed by tabbing DeMar DeRozan.

At 10, Milwaukee drafted Brandon Jennings, who skipped college to play for Lottomattica Virtus Roma in the Italian league last season.

Terrence Williams became the first senior chosen in the draft when the Louisville forward was selected by New Jersey at 11. Duke guard Gerald Henderson was taken by Charlotte at No 12, and high scoring North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough went to Indiana at 13th.

Louisville forward Earl Clark was taken 14th by Phoenix and Detroit picked Gonzaga forward Austin Daye next. Chicago grabbed Wake Forest forward James Johnson at No. 16, followed by Philadelphia taking UCLA shooting guard Jrue Holiday.

Minnesota picked Ty Lawson, the first of four consecutive point guards chosen. Wake Forest's Jeff Teague was taken by Atlanta at 19. Utah grabbed Virginia Commonwealth's Eric Maynor at No 20 and New Orleans followed with UCLA's Darren Collison.

Spanish forward Victor Claver was Portland's pick at No 22. Sacramento chose forward Omri Casspi, who will try to become the first Israeli to play in the NBA.

Dallas took Ohio State centre BJ Mullens, and Oklahoma City picked Guadeloupe guard Rodrigue Beaubois. The Mavericks and Thunder then swapped players with the Mavericks adding a future second-round pick.

Chicago took Southern California forward Taj Gibson at No 26. Missouri forward DeMarre Carroll went to Memphis, while the NBA champion LA Lakers chose Florida State guard Toney Douglas at No 29. However, the pick was sent to the Knicks in exchange for a 2011 second-round draft choice and cash considerations.

Cleveland had the last pick in the first round and chose Christian Eyenga, a guard from the Congo. (dpa)