There are a lot of stories about the 1992 NBA Draft Lottery.
But one thing is undeniable: Whoever got the No. 1 pick was going to take Shaquille O'Neal, the behemoth center from LSU who was set to change the NBA.
As is so often the case, this was a draft that everyone knew could change the league. The story goes that every team had a No. 33 jersey hidden underneath their dais with "O'Neal" emblazoned on it. Whichever way the ping-pong ball dropped would change a franchise's trajectory forever.
As everyone knows, Pat Williams was the only one who got to proudly display his No. 33 jersey (Shaquille O'Neal would wear No. 32, unable to buy the number of his idol, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, from Terry Catledge) for the world to see.
The Magic had the second-worst record in the league in 1992 and 10 of the 66 ping pong balls in the hopper to claim O'Neal in the draft lottery.
Largely, no one has thought much about this bit of kismet. The Orlando Magic had one of the highest odds to win the Lottery -- only the Minnesota Timberwolves at 15 wins had better odds, and they ended up third. It felt like a gift to an expansion team.
On an appearance on a podcast with Ashley Nevel claimed NBA commissioner David Stern gave him a choice for where he might end up:
"In 1992, I meet Mr. Stern in March and he says to me, 'Hey, I can't wait for you to come to the NBA,'" O'Neal says on the show. "And then he pulls me to the side [and says], 'Do you want to play where it's cold or where it's hot.' He asked me that. And I was like, 'Hot.' And he smiled, and I smiled."
When the Timberwolves ended up with the third pick after having the top odds and the Magic climbed to No. 1, O'Neal indeed ended up somewhere warm.
O'Neal would not acknowledge that this is true. But he did note the narrative convenience of his situation and the Dallas Mavericks winning this year's NBA Draft Lottery after trading Luka Doncic in February.
The NBA Draft Lottery has been beset by accusations of being fixed since its beginning. The first NBA Draft Lottery in 1984 is often referred to as the "frozen envelope" to ensure that the New York Knicks won to get Patrick Ewing.
The system has become much more complex and has led to a weighted system like the one the league used in 1992 and then revamped several times, including immediately after the Magic won again in 1993 with just one in 66 ping pong balls to win.
The league's weighted system now is far more balanced and gives teams with better records -- like the Play-In team in the Mavericks -- a better chance to win to try to prevent tanking.
Even publicly releasing the actual Lottery process has not quieted people from assuming it is fixed in some way. Unless there is rampant corruption, it is hard to imagine that this process is tampered with.
Especially in a league that is very bad at keeping secrets, this would be a doozy to keep quiet.
Then there are the storytellers to consider.
O'Neal is known to brag and embellish his stories. Shaquille O'Neal often tells a story about how David Robinson spurned him for an autograph as a kid and how he used that as motivation every time he went against the Spurs. O'Neal later confirmed he made that story up.
Stern himself is known for his wry sense of humor. A joke like asking O'Neal what kind of weather he prefers certainly feels in character for the former commissioner.
Stern also ruled with an iron fist. So any sense of impropriety in this process was either completely under his control or dealt with harshly.
It is easier to assume this story is playful banter followed by coincidence than anything nefarious. But with the NBA Draft Lottery, it always feels easier to give into the narrative and conspiracy. It keeps people talking.
The Magic benefited from the Lottery that year regardless of its legitimacy -- although as This Magic Moment detailed, O'Neal hesitated in contract negotiations (this was before the rookie scale) and already hints of him wanting to go to Los Angeles were present.
When O'Neal arrived in Orlando, he was transformational, leading the Magic to a 41-41 record as a rookie and then joining forces with the most improbable Lottery win the following year to join with Anfernee Hardaway (acquired in a trade involving the first pick) to lead the Magic to their first playoffs in 1994 and the NBA Finals in 1995.
O'Neal would become the first player in Magic history to have his jersey retired as his No. 32 went up to the rafters in the 2024 season. He is a foundational player in Magic history and not only supremely influential to the franchise but to the league as a whole.