With the close of last night’s NBA Draft Lottery it has become clearer to me than ever that the NBA Draft was rigged in 1985.
If you are unfamiliar, rumors have swirled for years that during the 1985 draft, in an attempt to bring a highly touted player to New York, the league placed the Knicks envelope in the freezer on the night before the draft so that the commissioner would be able to pluck their card out of the stack without anyone knowing. Tonight, those rumors became fact.
But before I get into all that, we’ll need to quickly recap last night’s lottery. A draft that will be known in generations to come as the Zion Draft. Zion Williamson is the most highly touted player entering the league since Lebron. A generational player. A franchise changing player. Or more specifically, a franchising reigniting player.
Nothing has changed in decades. It’s better for the sport of basketball when the Knicks are good. They haven’t been good in years and they are still valuable. Could you imagine what it would mean if they were the recipient of the next potential superstar of the NBA?
So leading up to the most important and highly anticipated draft in years, the Knicks have their worst season and are one of the favorites for the top pick. The stars were aligning no? This was the year right?
And yet somehow, they didn’t end up with the number 1 pick. Didn’t get number two either. Nope, they received the third pick. Hmm no reason to be suspicious though right?
Oh hey real quick could you remind me who was the representative receiving the pick tonight for the New York Knicks? Patrick Ewing you say? THE FIRST OVERALL PICK IN THE HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL AND (PROBABLY) RIGGED DRAFT!? Hmmm…. a coincidence I’m sure.
Nope. The NBA took their shot tonight. A shot at dispelling past rumors. Unlucky for them I saw right through that noise. They saw the connections coming a mile away. The second that the Knicks got cocky and put Ewing’s name down as their team’s representative is the second the league saw an opportunity.
“If we were a league that rigged lotteries than surely Ewing would be standing up there with the number one pick” they thought.
By moving the Knicks off of number 1, and all the way to 3 (to avoid further suspicion), the league believed that they would dispel rumors of rigging from the past and for the future.
Make no mistake. The league rigged this draft in an attempt to wash their hands of all accusations of rigging in the public eye.
