Worst moment in each NBA franchise’s history
By Brad Rowland
Phoenix Suns – Losing the 1969 coin flip for Lew Alcindor
The Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns entered the league as expansion franchises in 1968, and as such, both teams were miserable in the standings. Milwaukee finished with a 27-55 record, but Phoenix was even worse, posting a 16-66 mark that served as the worst record in the NBA.
However, the NBA did not do the Suns any favors, as the league elected to flip a coin to determine draft order in the 1969 NBA Draft. As you can guess, Phoenix lost the coin flip to Milwaukee, and with that, the Bucks were able to choose a future Hall of Fame center named Lew Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Phoenix’s consolation prize was former Florida Gators center Neal Walk, whom most readers in this space have never heard of as an NBA player.
With all due respect to Walk, who averaged 14.7 points and 7.3 rebounds in five seasons with the Suns, this was a brutal turn of events for the Phoenix franchise. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is arguably one of the five greatest players in NBA history and, well, Neal Walk is not.
A lot has happened with the Suns franchise since then, including a miserable decision from David Stern to assign suspension in the NBA Playoffs that may have cost Phoenix and Steve Nash an NBA title. No moment was bigger, though, than the instant that Phoenix lost out on Alcindor with a simple flip of a coin in 1969.
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