After the New York Knicks won the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery, several camps said it was fixed. Some theorized that a creased envelope was used to ensure that commissioner David Stern picked the Big Apple Team's envelope, which would have given them the right to pick first overall in that year's draft.
Others said it was a frozen envelope, which the young commissioner quickly picked from the large plastic ball. Creased or frozen, they cried foul. When LA Times writer Sam McManis brought the conspiracy theory to Madison Square Garden President Jack Krumpe, the official sarcastically denied the accusation. Or did he?
"Hey, I told them how to fix it 60 days ago," said Krumpe. "You call up Ernst & Whinney and say, 'If we don't get Ewing, you're fired.'"
The Auditing firm of the Knicks
There were several reasons why conspiracists called the 1985 Draft Lottery a fix. First, Ernst & Whinney, the accounting firm that the NBA hired to help it with the proceedings, turned out to be the auditing firm of Gulf & Western, which at that time owned the Knicks. Then there was the narrative that the media was running headlines before the draft that Patrick Ewing going to New York would be good for the NBA business.
New York has always been the league's biggest market. But during that time, the Knicks were a floundering franchise. They were coming off their worst season in 20 years. Franchise player Bernard King was oft-injured, and so was big man Bill Cartwright. As a whole, the association was plagued by drug issues. The NBA needed a breath of fresh air.
One draft earlier, the Bulls landed Michael Jordan, and he began to turn the NBA's bottom line figure around. But he couldn't it alone. With the NBA's TV deal with CBS set to expire at the end of the season, they needed another homerun. Ewing landing in New York would add to Jordan's growing legend in Chicago. But the Knicks had to earn the right to draft The Big Hoya.
Related: "I think he taught Michael Jordan how to play" - Shawn Kemp credits controversial ex-Bull for MJ's growth as a player
The birth of the Draft Lottery
The NBA used rankings to determine the draft order from the No. 3 pick onwards. The first and second picks would go to the two teams that ended the previous campaign with the worst record in each conference, with a coin flip deciding which team picked first overall. But not in 1985. With a prize like Ewing, Stern came up with the idea of a Draft Lottery where the teams with the seven worst records got an equal chance of landing the No.1 pick.
"We were very pleased with the lottery," Stern said after the proceedings. "The interest was great. People are talking about the Draft Lottery instead of drugs, unauthorized franchise moves, or anything negative."
The use of the lottery has continued up to this day, although in a format that is harder to fix. Many years later, the late commissioner denied they fixed the 1985 Draft Lottery. But there has never been a closure on the accusations. The league had too many good reasons to let New York have Ewing. Stern and his cohorts were definitely capable of pulling it off.
Related: "Since that day nobody pushed Patrick Ewing around" - Knicks legend sent a message by punching Bill Laimbeer during Olympic tryouts
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