The NBA launched its draft lottery after the 1984 season to curb concerns about teams deliberately losing games for better draft positioning.
Before the lottery system came into play, the No. 1 overall pick was determined by a coin flip between the two worst teams from the Eastern and Western Conferences.
The Houston Rockets won those coin flips in both 1983 and 1984, which pushed the league to adopt a new approach.
In the original lottery format, every team that missed the playoffs had an equal chance at the top pick, decided through a random envelope drawing.
By 1987, the NBA adjusted the system so the lottery only determined the first three selections, while the remaining teams drafted in reverse order of their regular-season records.
The envelope method was completely scrapped in 1990 in favor of the weighted lottery system that remains in use today.
The last time the actual lottery drawing aired live on television was during the 1989 NBA Draft lottery, when the Sacramento Kings won the No. 1 overall pick and eventually chose Pervis Ellison.
Now, the league is considering a proposed “3-2-1” format that could bring the live TV drawing back for the first time since 1989.
