NBA brass tinker with ’87 lottery

April 18, 1986

NEW YORK -- The NBA’s draft lottery in which the top seven teams draw for the first draft pick, will be modified starting next year so that the team with the league’s worst record gets no worse than the fourth choice in the draft.

The NBA’s board of governors approved Wednesday a new system under which the lottery would apply only to the first three choices although all seven non-playoff teams would be involved. Once the first three are picked the other four teams then will be awarded picks in inverse order of their won-lost records.

This year’s lottery, to be held May 11, will involve seven teams.

Last season, the first in which the lottery was used, the New York Knicks got the first choice with the league’s third worst record and took center Patrick Ewing. The Golden State Warriors, who had the worst record, got the seventh choice the last in the lottery. They selected guard Chris Mullin.

Under the old system, the worst team in the East and the worst team in the West flipped for the first pick. The tow previous seasons, Houston won the flip each time, taking 7-foot-4 Ralph Sampson and 7-footer Akeem Olajuwon.

Source: Associated Press,