Last night the NBA held their annual Draft Lotto, selecting the teams that will draft the first 14 picks in the upcoming June 25th draft.

Coming into the night, the team odds of winning the lotto were as follows:

1. 14% – Utah Jazz
2. 14% – Washington Wizards
3. 14% – Charlotte Hornets
4. 12.5% – New Orleans Pelicans
5. 10.5% – Philadelphia 76ers (pick to Oklahoma City if out of top-6)
6. 9% – Brooklyn Nets
7. 7.5% – Toronto Raptors
8. 6% – San Antonio Spurs
9. 3.8% – Phoenix Suns (pick traded to Houston)
10. 3.7% – Portland Trail Blazers
11. 1.8% – Dallas Mavericks
12. 1.7% – Chicago Bulls
13. 0.8% – Sacramento Kings (Atlanta’s pick if outside of top-12)
14. 0.7% – Atlanta Hawks (pick traded to San Antonio)

This draft, compared to most others, is an important one – the team who lands the #1 pick has the right to draft Cooper Flagg (Duke) star who is expected to be one of the next NBA super stars.

So it’s a big deal for teams like the Jazz, Wizards, and Hornets who have a hard time recruiting top free agents to come to their team due to lack of success and various other factors (ownership, taxes, etc.). For a team like Charlotte landing Cooper Flagg would be monumental for a franchise who hasn’t had success in – well – ever. Bringing the viewership to somewhere like Utah would be franchise changing – another team who hasn’t had very much success in their history.

But, we are talking about the NBA. So none of these “small market”, “non-Free Agent destination”, “lower end” teams will ever be subject to the NBA’s rigging.

Yep – I said it. Just like hundreds of other people who are realistic about the NBA – it’s rigged and it’s getting more and more blatantly obvious.

Last night, the Dallas Mavericks won the Draft Lottery, thats right – I’ll save you the scroll up – the team with a 1.8% chance of winning the top pick won. The largest jump in positions in NBA draft history (+10 spots, from 11 to 1).

Now, Why Do You Say The NBA Is Rigged?

On February 2nd of this year – actually – lets go back farther than that.

Heading into Christmas season of 2023 (so 2 years back) – the time NBA used to rule and the league and fans were focused on opening presents and watching the top tier Christmas Day Matchups – viewership of the NBA was down 19% from previous year.
This seasons Christmas viewership was down 2% from 2023, meaning in two years viewership was down 21%. Not a great look for the league office and the commisioner. Something had to be done.

Now, we come back to February 2nd – when the Dallas Mavericks broke the internet and sports world when they traded Super Star Luka Doncic to the Lakers for Anthony Davis and draft picks. The team that played for an NBA championship last year, just traded their face of the franchise and super star to one of (if not thee) most popular teams in the league. The same team Lebron James is on. WHY? HOW? Reports came out saying that the Mavs didn’t even CONTACT other teams in regards to Luka being available. Everyone in the sports world left baffled, shocked, confused, how could the Mavs do this, how could they not talk to any other teams?

Cue the rigging.

No other teams were contacted, could that be because Commisioner Adam Silver facilitated (or told) the two teams that a trade would be happening between them? Something that would shock the world, something that would…….boost ratings?
Take a guess what percentage you think that viewership was up in the NBA come the end of February – hint – it’s 33%. Yep, viewership skyrocketed, social media engagments were in outer space, people who don’t even watch the sport were talking about it. Coincidence?

Now, here we are 3 months later and the Dallas Mavericks, the same team who just traded a Super Star, who have been crucifed up and down a wall for the last 3 months by fans and media, are now sitting atop the NBA Draft – ready to select their next super star? Again, coincidence?

It’s getting blatantly obvious now that the league was behind the deal.
How can we get viewership up – we force a trade between the biggest market team, to get them another super star – but we will have to get the other team on board? – How about we guarantee them the first pick?

The NBA has a long history of conspiracy theories when it comes to the draft:

1985 – The “Frozen” First Lotto
The Knicks, New Yorks own, were struggling and the league inturn was struggling. Queue the “frozen envelope”, when the lotto was selected by picking an evelope and the Knicks were the miraculous winners. Was the envelope frozen so the commisioner could feel the coldness and knew which one to pick?
The Knicks would draft Patrick Ewing, who would go on to lead them to two finals appearances in a Hall of Fame career.

2003 – Hometown Hero
The Akron native, the future of the league, the greatest thing since Jordan… Lebron James is coming out of high school – and the hometown Cleveland Caviliers just so happen to win the Draft Lotto.
I’m sure viewership, ratings, and income of the franchise didn’t change at all. Ownership was probably just “blah” about it.

2008 – A Second Hometown Hero
Derrick Rose was well on his way to becoming a Hall of Famer before injuries derailed him. But the born and raised in Chicago point guard left Illinois and spent a season at Memphis – where he would lead the Tigers to their first ever #1 ranking and most wins in NCAA single season (vacated because they lied about his SAT scores).
The Chicago Bulls lacked idenity once Jordan days ended, and had a 1.8% chance of winning the lotto that year – just so happens the hometown kid landed there?

2011 – Hometown Hero Leaves, New Face of Franchise
Following Lebron James’ departure from Cleveland, the Cavs miraculously won the lotto in which they drafted Kyrie Irving – who would go on to be the face of the franchise until the return of James.

Which leads us to…

2014 – Return of the Hometown Hero
After leaving Ohio behind to go win in Miami, Lebron returns home to Cleveland – who has the #1 pick in the upcoming draft. The Cavs would select Andrew Wiggins, who would never play a game for the Cavs – he was later sent to Minnesota for Kevin Love… you know the Love who Lebron wanted to play with and helped the Cavs win championships. They wouldn’t have been able to get him without Wiggins…

2019 – Pelicans Trade a Star, Receive a Star
After trading Anthony Davis (who was also involved in this years rigged trade…weird) to the Lakers, the Pelicans would win the lotto for the #1 overall pick in the draft that (again, similar to this year) had the next face of the NBA in it. They would select Zion Williamson #1 overall replacing Davis as the face of the franchise, but also allowing AD to play in the Los Angeles market and with Lebron.

2023 – Foreign Player to Foreign Friendly Team
The San Antonio Spurs are considered to be one of the best ran and maintained franchises in the league. Gregg Popovich has been at the helm since 1996 – winning 5 championships across 3 decades.
Pop would spend time in Europe during his time in the Air Force, forming international “ties”. Frenchman Tony Parker spent 17 seasons of his Hall of Fame career there. Manu Ginobili, from Argentina, spent his entire Hall of Fame career in black and silver – currently special advisor for the team. Tim Duncan, the face of the franchise – born and raised in Virgin Islands prior to becoming one of the greatest Power Forwards of all-time.
The Spurs had fallen to the level of a few well below average seasons… and just so happens that they won the Lotto in the year the international phenom is the consensus #1 pick.
(That one is a wild stretch to claim international ties is the reason – but how about if we just said the league was rewarding the Spurs for being constantly classy and good for the league?)

Lots of “Lebron” mentioning here. But they don’t cater to him…. uhhh yeah-right.

We may never find out, but we can sure hope we do, that the NBA has been rigging trades, drafts, and playoff series (don’t get me started) for viewership. But last nights draft lotto helped a lot of us realize how corrupt the league it.

Till Next Time,
Trevor