Patrick Ewing, the No. 1 pick in the 1985 NBA Draft, will represent the New York Knicks at the 2019 NBA Draft lottery at the Hilton Chicago next Tuesday.
FILE PHOTO: Argentina’s Juan Gutierrez (9) goes for a basket against Jamaica’s Patrick Ewing (center R) at the FIBA Americas Championship basketball game in Caracas September 6, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
The Knicks have drafted first only twice since 1965, including selecting Ewing out of Georgetown in a top 10 that also included Chris Mullin (seventh, Golden State Warriors), Detlef Schrempf (eighth, Dallas Mavericks) and Charles Oakley (ninth, Cleveland Cavaliers).
Under rewritten lottery rules designed to prevent tanking, New York, Cleveland and the Phoenix Suns hold equal 14 percent odds to select No. 1 in the 2019 draft.
The Chicago Bulls (22-60) finished with the fourth-worst record in the league and have a 12.5 percent chance to win the lottery and draft first overall, which last happened in 2008. That year the Bulls had a 1.8 percent chance to draft first, won the lottery and selected future MVP Derrick Rose.
Former Michael Jordan teammate Horace Grant, an advisor to the Reinsdorf Family, will represent the Bulls at the lottery.
Ewing is currently the head coach at Georgetown.
Under the bygone system, the Knicks’ 17-65 record would have granted odds of 25 percent of winning the lottery.
Last year’s No. 1 pick, Deandre Ayton, will represent the Suns in Chicago, and the Cavaliers again are sending owner Dan Gilbert’s son, Nick Gilbert.
Cleveland won the lottery in 2014, selecting Andrew Wiggins of Kansas and shipping him to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a trade that brought All-Star Kevin Love to the Cavaliers. That was the summer LeBron James returned to the franchise after a run with the Miami Heat. Since using the top pick on James in 2003, the Cavaliers have drafted No. 1 three times (Kyrie Irving, 2011; Anthony Bennett, 2013; Wiggins).
ESPN will televise the results of the 2019 NBA Draft lottery Tuesday, about 30 minutes after the drawing takes place backstage in Chicago.
—Field Level Media