1985 NBA Draft Lottery
There are many people who still believe the sequence of events in the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery were fixed, and there remains no definitive evidence to refute this great conspiracy theory. Specifically, the theory revolves around the idea that then-Commissioner David Stern was able to act on the NBA’s desire to improve the standing of the New York Knicks franchise, by enabling the Knicks to win the Draft Lottery that year.
How is that possible? Stern effectively drew from seven envelopes in a massive bingo roller, and the conspiracy theorists believe Stern was able to identify the envelope belonging to the Knicks because the envelope was frozen. It’s not a coincidence that the NBA would eventually move to a ping pong-ball based system that’s administered by a third party for subsequent NBA Draft Lottery results.