alternatehistory.com

(OOC: Yes, this is another Houston Rockets-wank; this is different from my previous one, though.)

Howdy.

As most basketball fans know, this year marks the 35th anniversary of the 1984 NBA Draft. As most fans know, Houston used their first pick to select Hakeem Olajuwon and then traded Ralph Sampson to Portland for Clyde Drexler and the #2 pick in the 1984 draft, which the Rockets used to select...Michael Jordan. Then, the Rockets traded Rodney McCray to Cleveland for the #4 draft pick, which they used to select Jordan's North Carolina teammate Sam Perkins (trades like this were part of the reason the Stepien rule was instituted).

As anyone who's a fan of basketball knows, the Houston Rockets used that to go on to the greatest success for an NBA team since the 1950s and 1960s Celtics, going to the NBA Finals a record 11 times in a row and winning every one and making basketball the second-most popular sport in Texas (1); it also came at a time when the Southwestern Conference was reeling from a number of football scandals, including SMU's ending its football program after getting the death penalty...

So, WI Portland doesn't trade Drexler and the #2 pick to Houston for Sampson? Do they pick Jordan ITTL? This certainly butterflies away the rise of basketball in Texas, IMO; many high school basketball players for years admitted that they were inspired by the Houston Rockets' success...

(1) Even with a Rockets dynasty that rivals the Celtics, football is still the most popular sport in Texas; that'll never change in any TL...
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