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A history of the NBA draft lottery and its changes over time

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Detroit player-coach Dave DeBusschere called “tails” at the very first version of the draft lottery in 1966, which was a coin flip between the Pistons and the New York Knicks — the worst teams in the Eastern and Western Divisions that season. The coin flip remained in place through 1984, with the two worst teams letting “heads” or “tails” decide who got the No. 1 selection. The lottery has been changed many times since that first coin flip, including Thursday with the introduction of a bigger...

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