The NBA draft is a major time of the year as 60 people get selected into the league. But, it wasn't always so great like we know it today. So today, I'm going to cover the weirdest selections in NBA history. Here we go:
Bulls select Carl Lewis
The 1984 draft for Bulls fans is known for one main reason, the selection of Michael Jordan. But in the 10th round of that same draft, the Bulls selected Carl Lewis, a former track and field Olympian star. Lewis won 9 Olympic gold medals and 10 World Championship medals. Just imagine if Lewis and MJ were on the same team, the highlights would be crazy!
Dave Winfield selected by 4 leagues
If you follow the MLB, you've probably heard of Baseball Hall Of Famer Dave Winfield. He was a 12x All-Star, 7x Golden Glove winner and 6x Silver Slugger winner. But, did you know 3 other leagues besides the MLB selected him? That's right, the Vikings of the NFL selected him in the 17th round and both the Utah Stars of the ABA and the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA took him. He's the only athlete to be drafted by 4 different leagues!
The youngest player, a baby
Picture this, it's the 1974 NBA draft. With notable names such as Bill Walton and George Gervin, it was not bad for its time. Anyways, the day before the draft, Hawks GM Pat Williams and his wife had a kid. And in the 10th round, Williams selected his son! He was 1 day old and almost made it but the NBA voided the pick. In the 10th round, there were NBA players that ended up having a solid career, a lot longer than his son. I couldn't find anything on his son so some random guy with the last name Williams in their 40s was an NBA player!
A random pharmacist
1983 was a big year for 76ers fans. Philadelphia won their most recent championship behind Dr. J and Moses Malone. So skip ahead to the '83 draft and in the 10th round with the final 228th pick of the draft, Sixers owner Harold Katz was bored. So he picked a random pharmacist named Harold Katz. Katz graduated from Philly School of Pharmacy in 1956 and he was a 49, 5'10, 205 lb guard. This was meant as a joke and people then found out that Katz was Horvitz's friend. But, he never played a game LOL.
The bubblegum saved Cleveland
On May 11th, 1970, the NBA added 3 teams, the Buffalo Braves (now LA Clippers), Portland Trail Blazers and the Cleveland Cavaliers. And the team knew nobody in the draft pool to select, so what did they do? Cavs coach Bill Fitch gave assistant coach Jim Lessig $20 to buy bubblegum trading cards. They got a bunch of bubblegum as this would be worth 140 dollars today. Anyways, Lessig and Fitch laid it out on Fitch's living room floor and studied the player bios on the back. And no wonder the team went 15-67 in their first year.