Winning Time: Why The 1979 NBA Draft Was Decided By A Coin Toss

screenrant.com:

Here's why the 1979 NBA Draft order as depicted in Winning Time was decided by a coin toss. The new HBO series centers around the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers dynasty, led by new owner Dr. Jerry Buss and star point guard Magic Johnson. Selecting Johnson with the first pick in the 1979 draft helped turn the Lakers franchise around and put them back on the map. The team won five NBA Finals during Johnson's Hall of Fame career, captivating the league with their electric style of play known as «Showtime.»

Luck is a key element of any championship run, but the Lakers got extremely lucky before Johnson ever suited up to play in the NBA. As seen in Winning Time episode 1, «The Swan,» Los Angeles earned the right to select Johnson after they won a coin flip to determine the draft order. Considering the magnitude of the first pick, it seems odd the league would leave something like that up to chance. Using a coin to decide teams' fates was an NBA practice for years.

Related: Winning Time: How & When Earvin Became Known as Magic Johnson

The Winning Time coin flip was in accordance with NBA Draft rules at the time. Instituted in 1966, the league used a coin flip to award a team the first overall pick. The two teams with the worst record in each division (later conference) participated. In the 1978-79 season, the New Orleans Jazz and Chicago Bulls had the worst records in the Eastern and Western conferences, respectively. Since the Lakers had acquired the Jazz's 1979 draft pick in a trade, they took part in the coin flip tradition.

Eventually, the NBA revamped their draft rules, replacing the coin flip with the draft lottery system (which has also been reworked over the years). This was done to deter teams from tanking during the season