Patrick Ewing was poised to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft 40 years ago when commissioner David Stern began the league’s 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: Which team will be the next one to hate the lottery? The Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz or Washington Wizards, perhaps? Each has a league-best 14% chance of picking first this year, and everyone will find out who’s No. 1 at the same time as the lottery, which is taking place in Chicago, is televised by ESPN at 7 p.m. Eastern on Monday.
“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 is four, with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic sharing that mark. The Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs have received the top pick three times.
No lottery wins
Eight franchises have never won the lottery: The Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, and Oklahoma City Thunder. The Grizzlies, Mavericks and Nuggets have been particularly unlucky, and the Minnesota Timberwolves had a brutal lottery record before finally landing the No. 1 pick in 2015 and 2020.
Longest long shots
The Magic snagged the top pick in 1993 despite a probability of 1.5%. The Chicago Bulls in 2008 and the Cavaliers 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 the Magic’s 1993 win, the teams at the top of the lottery were given slightly better chances, but lately that’s reverted back a bit. After the Hornets, Jazz and Wizards this year are the New Orleans Pelicans (12.5%), 76ers (10.5%), Brooklyn Nets (9%), Toronto Raptors (7.5%), Spurs (6.7%), Houston Rockets (3.8%), Portland Trail Blazers (3.7%), Mavericks (1.8%), Bulls (1.7%) and Sacramento Kings (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.