How did the 1969 NBA draft lottery work and who was eligible?

1. How the 1969 draft actually worked — turn‑based selection, not a lottery

The 1969 draft was the NBA’s 23rd annual draft and proceeded as a turn‑based selection across 20 rounds in which 14 teams chose amateur U.S. college players and other eligible players in a set order; the draft was held on April 7 and May 7, 1969 ^[1]. The structure was the classic reverse‑order/turn system used through much of the league’s earlier history; the record‑based coin‑flip/lottery innovations that fans associate with modern draft day had not yet been adopted for determining the top pick ^[2].

2. Who was eligible in 1969 — amateurs, some exceptions, and administrative controls

Eligibility in 1969 centered on amateur U.S. college players and other eligible players, with teams able to select players across many rounds; one notable quirk was that the Warriors’ selection of Denise Long — a high‑school graduate — was voided by Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy because of league rules requiring players to be a certain number of years removed from high school ^[1]. Contemporary rules about hardship admissions, international eligibility and other modern nuances are not described for 1969 in these sources; specific age or class‑year eligibility standards for 1969 beyond the Long incident are not detailed in current reporting ^[1].

3. When and why the lottery arrived — a reaction to the coin‑flip era

The NBA introduced a lottery system in 1985 to counter accusations that teams were tanking under the old coin‑flip arrangement (the coin‑flip gave the two worst teams equal chance for the top pick), a practice critics said encouraged intentional losing to gain draft position ^{[3] [2]}. Sources trace the move from the coin flip and reverse‑order drafts to envelope drawings and later to the ping‑pong‑ball lottery mechanism; that history shows 1969 predates those institutional remedies ^{[3] [2]}.

4. How the modern lottery differs from 1969 — ping‑pong balls, weighted odds, and expanded slots

Modern lottery methods use 14 numbered ping‑pong balls to generate four‑number combinations, with the league assigning 1,000 possible combinations to non‑playoff teams (ignoring the 11‑12‑13‑14 four‑ball sequence) and with only a subset of top picks — three until 2018, four since — determined by lottery among non‑playoff teams ^{[3] [2]}. These procedures, including later changes to weighting and the number of lottery slots, evolved long after 1969 and are absent from contemporary accounts of that year’s draft ^{[3] [4]}.

5. The headline outcome of 1969 — Alcindor, rules disputes, and the draft’s sweep

The 1969 draft’s marquee result was the Milwaukee Bucks selecting UCLA center Lew Alcindor, later Kareem Abdul‑Jabbar, first overall; the draft that year comprised 20 rounds and 218 selections ^[1]. The draft also featured administrative rulings — such as Commissioner Kennedy voiding Denise Long’s pick — that underscore how league governance, not a lottery, shaped who could be chosen and when ^[1].

6. Why the distinction matters — incentives, tanking, and modernization

Understanding that 1969 used a turn‑based draft rather than a randomized lottery matters because the shift to lottery systems was explicitly intended to change team incentives and reduce blatant tanking that arose under earlier rules ^{[2] [3]}. Later reforms — changes to odds, expanding the number of lottery picks and protections for worst‑record teams — reflect an ongoing policy response to strategic behavior; those debates post‑date the 1969 procedures ^{[5] [4]}.

Limitations and sourcing note: reporting on the 1969 draft’s mechanics in the sources focuses on selection order, the draft’s dates and notable incidents (e.g., Alcindor’s draft, Denise Long’s voided pick) and does not provide a step‑by‑step rules list for player eligibility beyond those items; available sources do not mention any ping‑pong‑ball or combination lottery procedure being used in 1969 ^{[1] [3] [2]}.