In the book Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made, a captivating story reveals the backstage of the 1979 Draft that eventually gave the Los Angeles Lakers the first pick who would become Magic Johnson! Magic’s entry into the NBA defending the Los Angeles franchise changed the history of basketball as we know it: Championships for LA, Bird VS Magic, television rates show up, the Showtime Lakers, NBA International expansion and the success of the Dream Team. But, ironically, all of this could be very different if it weren’t for a coin.

This story is an important footnote of the winning path that Chicago Bulls would do in the 1990s. A story of the coin flip that changed the future of NBA: The Reinsdorf group likely never would have gotten a chance to purchase the Bulls, the Los Angeles Lakers, like they were in the 1960s and 1970s, would have been more contender than dynasty, Jerry Krause would have monitored baseballs for 20 more years and Michael Jordan probably would be a Dallas Maverick or Philadelphia 76er.

In the late 1970s, the first Draft pick was decided with the coin flip between the worst teams of the previous season. The rise of then-young Magic Johnson in college basketball and his projection in the Big Ten left a state of great anxiety to see which team would eventually gain that young talent prospect that could change the fate of any NBA roster. The Bulls had a somewhat underrated team but injuries throughout the 1977-78 season left the team at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. In the Western Conference, it was the New Orleans Jazz. But from a prior transaction, the signing of free agent Gail Goodrich, the Lakers held the Jazz pick.

The Lakers and the Bulls in that time had relatively similar teams in terms of potential, and the addition of Magic would surely turn either team into a legitimate championship candidate (as we know today!). And while Magic Johnson denies that at the time of the draft he had an interest in playing for the Bulls, his statements over the years sound more like a reinforcement of his loyalty and identity that he built with the L.A. culture.

In April 1979, 10 days after the end of the season, the coin decided the fate of Magic, but also indirectly of Michael Jordan.

So in trying to engage the fans, the Bulls promoted a contest for fans to vote: “should we call heads or tails”?

“Bill Sharman and I were on the call with the league,” Rod Thorn Bull’s GM in that time recalled. “He was representing the Lakers at the time. The people in New York were asking us who wanted to call it. I immediately said we had this fan vote and, ‘Bill. if it’s OK with you, let me call it.’ Bill said fine. So I called it heads. It came out tails.”

At the time Johnathan Kovler, who was one of the Bulls directors, said, “That was a $ 25 million coin.”

“Actually I was wrong,” years later he corrected himself. “It turned out to be a 200 million dollar coin.”

The Lakers obviously chose Magic Johnson, and the Bulls drafted David Greenwood, a center with the second pick. Though unsuccessful in Chicago, Greenwood ended up having a long NBA career. And in 1990 he won a championship as a backup reserve of the Detroit Pistons.

The early 80s for the Chicago franchise turned out to be quite different from Magic Johnson’s Showtime Lakers. With a roster sunk in crisis, coaching changes, and even drug issues, the Bulls hit rock bottom in the 1983-84 season …. which eventually gave the franchise the third Draft choice in 1984. … which became Michael Jordan.

From this point on, we know how much that coin was worth to the Lakers and the Bulls.