An initial deal to the Lakers was vetoed by Stern, citing that it wasn’t in the team’s best interests. The league-owned Hornets decided to trade Paul, after the star demanded a trade out of New Orleans and put the team over a barrel. A year down the road, and a collapsed deal later, Stern announced the league would purchase the Hornets for $300 million, to ensure its financial solvency and the health of the league as a whole. Then Shinn expressed his desire to sell the team. The team had a few playoff berths, hosted an NBA All-Star Game, and, thanks to superstar Chris Paul, looked to anchor the team for its future. Things were decent for the New Orleans Hornets for the better part of a decade. Despite the Hornets still pulling some of the best attendance figures in the NBA, Shinn found a new home for his team. Withdrawing from the public, Shinn decided to move the Hornets from Charlotte to New Orleans, a decision some believed was caused by public scrutiny in Charlotte.
Just over a decade later, he was in the middle of a public trial for kidnapping and sexual assault, which led to the public finding out about Shinn’s extra marital affairs.
Once the king of the Queen City, Shinn brought the NBA to Charlotte in 1987 after buying the rights to start a franchise, leading to the creation of the Charlotte Hornets. George Shinn is one of the most notorious owners in NBA history. 2 - Stern makes up for trading Chris Paul in 2012. Guess who was a predominant owner of the Knicks in 1985? Gulf and Western Industries, who held a 81 percent stake in The Madison Square Garden Company. Need more proof? Ersnt & Whinney were the accounting firm for Gulf and Western Industries. If Stern couldn’t select the cold envelope, he’d instead look for a creased corner, knowing this was the Knicks logo. Wagner is the real key to all this, because he was the league’s fail safe. He placed the envelopes in the drum, and curiously happened to bang one of them on the lip of the vessel - denting the Knicks’ envelope. So, Stern had the help of a secondary source: Jack Wagner, a partner at accounting firm Ernst & Whinney. Under stage lights and with the possibility of time delay, there was a chance the envelope would heat up, rendering the process meaningless. This attempted to make the card stand out amongst the rest, making it easier to select. Over the years, people have argued for each theory, but it’s our belief that both were done simultaneously to hedge Stern’s bet.įirst of all, the Knicks’ envelope was refrigerated, making it cool to the touch. Two separate attempts to rig the lottery, one desired result.
It’s here where the NBA’s two-prong plan springs into action. Rather than using a standard lottery ball system as it eventually would, the league put large cards into a tumbler, spun it around and Stern would select one to be the top pick.
1-overall pick, giving each team just a 14.29 percent chance of being able to pick Ewing. Each of the seven worst teams in the NBA was given an equal chance to land the No. 1 pick, not only to prove the concept of the NBA Draft lottery and the unpredictability that anything can happen, but ensure that Georgetown standout Patrick Ewing can anchor the Knicks in the NBA’s premier market for the next decade. Stern knows the Knicks have to land the No. The Warriors and Pacers both had worse records, but represent much smaller markets compared to New York. The Felt Forum in New York City is buzzing, the league just secured a new broadcast agreement for the draft with the TBS Superstation, and the Knicks are sitting with the third-worst record in the league.Įveryone knows the Knicks are supposed to get a high pick, but the pressure is still on. The first time the NBA decided to hold a draft lottery to determine the No. NBA Draft lottery conspiracy theories, ranked by how sure we are that they happened. Research is still being conducted by a private group of concerned basketball fans so we can present iron clad proof of impropriety to the United Nations, but for now here’s what we’ve discovered. Considering SB Nation is the only sports site not run by the lizard people, we feel uniquely positioned to wake up the world and shine a light on these draft atrocities. Like any competent agency, they don’t play their hand every year - only when it matters. These are a few of the incontrovertible truths about our world, and yet people still keep trying to deny them.Įvery year the league consults with the grim specters of the Illuminati to decide whether or not they should rig the draft. Avril Lavigne died in 2003 and was replaced with a clone.