Rick Welts was at the 1st NBA lottery. And he was there when Mavs won a chance to draft Cooper Flagg

CHICAGO (AP) — Rick Welts was there, 40 years to the date earlier, when the NBA draft lottery got started. He worked for the league then and was in the room when that first one took place.

And it seems he has spent much of the four decades since debunking the rumors that the 1985 lottery was rigged so the New York Knicks would get Patrick Ewing.

Given all the extraordinary measures — including witnesses, accountants, videotaping of the event — that goes into running such a thing...