Patrick Ewing was poised to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft 40 years ago when Commissioner David Stern began the first draft lottery by pulling a logo of the Golden State Warriors out of an envelope — indicating they would select seventh.
Pat O’Brien, announcing for CBS, proclaimed: “And the first team to hate the lottery.”
Now the question is who will be the next team to hate the lottery. Utah, Washington or Charlotte, perhaps? Each has a league-best 14% chance of picking first this year.
“That day we don’t have a lot of control over. The balls will tell us our fate,” Wizards general manager Will Dawkins told Monumental Sports Network recently — a reference to the table tennis balls in a lottery machine that determine the top few picks.
Back in 1985, Stern simply picked envelopes out of a drum, a process seized upon by conspiracy theorists suspicious of the ultimate result that sent Ewing to the New York Knicks. The Warriors had finished tied for the league’s worst record in the 1984-85 season, but they received the No. 7 pick.
Duke star Cooper Flagg is expected to be the first player taken in next month’s draft but nothing is guaranteed.
The lottery is now an annual NBA event in which largely downtrodden teams find out if fortune is smiling on them. Every franchise has had significant experience with the lottery — with some certainly enjoying it more than others.
The Associated Press reviewed each franchise’s draft lottery history. Here are a few highlights and lowlights:
— Most lottery wins. The record for lottery wins is four, by Cleveland and Orlando. The Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia and San Antonio have received the top pick three times.
— No lottery wins. Eight franchises have never won the lottery: The Grizzlies, Heat, Jazz, Lakers, Mavericks, Nuggets, Pacers and Thunder. Dallas, Denver and Memphis have been particularly unlucky, and Minnesota had a brutal lottery record before finally landing the No. 1 pick in 2015 and 2020.
— Longest long shots. Orlando snagged the top pick in 1993 despite a probability of 1.5%. Chicago in 2008 and Cleveland in 2014 each had a 1.7% chance when they won.
— Best odds on Monday. Each team in the lottery had an equal chance of picking No. 1 during the early years. Then a weighted system was introduced. After Orlando’s 1993 win, the teams at the top of the lottery were given slightly better chances, but lately that’s reverted back a bit. Following Utah, Washington and Charlotte this year are New Orleans (12.5%), Philadelphia (10.5%), Brooklyn (9%), Toronto (7.5%), San Antonio (6.7%), Houston (3.8%), Portland (3.7%), Dallas (1.8%), Chicago (1.7%) and Sacramento (0.8%).
— Record-setting Warriors. For much of the lottery’s history, there’s been a limit to how far teams can fall, so nobody has ever dropped again the way Golden State did in 1985.
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(AP reviewed data on realgm.com to compile this report.)
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
