The so-called "frozen envelope" has never emerged from the first NBA Draft Lottery in 1985, but the jersey now has.
Brahm Wachter, Sotheby's head of modern collectibles, told cllct the auction house has been consigned the Patrick Ewing Knicks jersey that was onsite for the NBA lottery and the draft in 1985. The white home jersey, which was held up by Knicks executive Dave DeBusschere after New York won the lottery, has been photo-matched to both events.
The lottery took place May 12, 1985, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. Envelopes with logos of the seven teams that didn't make the playoffs were put into a drum and pulled out by NBA commissioner David Stern. When Stern pulled the logo of the team in the NBA's largest market, a conspiracy theory developed around the Knicks envelope being frozen or a corner being bent.
Stern and the NBA denied all conspiracy theories, pointing to the fact the process was overseen by an independent accounting firm. The NBA later went to ping-pong ball combinations instead of logos on envelopes in order to create even more transparency.
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DeBuscchere had the jersey ready for Ewing immediately, but there is actually some explanation to that.
One of the most prominent athletic equipment stores in the country at the time was Gerry Cosby & Co., which had its headquarters at Madison Square Garden. Even in 1985, fans could get jerseys customized onsite, so preparing a Ewing Knicks jersey was easy.
Presentation jerseys have sold before, most notably the one Michael Jordan held up when he signed his first contract after being drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1984. That jersey was bought by Rally for $320,000 at Julien's in 2020. Investors sold it for more than $500,000 in 2023.
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Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.