Shaquille O’Neal feeds into conspiracy about NBA being rigged: ‘You hear a lot’

Ever since Dallas earned this year’s NBA draft lottery, despite only having a 1.8% chance of getting the No. 1 pick, a lot of speculation has been ignited over the league being rigged. Most of the conspiracies are coming from the fans, until Shaquille O’Neal recently decided to share his own take on the matter. 

The Hall of Famer recalled his own experience back when he was drafted by Orlando. “In 1992, the draft was in June or something,” he said. “I meet Mr. [David] Stern in March. He says to me, ‘Can’t wait for you to come to the NBA.’ Then he pulled me to the side, ‘You want to play where it’s cold or where it’s hot?’ He asked me that.”

The Magic legend then responded: “And I was like, ‘Hot.’ And he smiled and I smiled and then a couple of days later they had the draft thing with the top three things and Minnesota was No. 3. And then Charlotte was No. 2 and Orlando, Fla., was No. 1.”

Shaq admits the NBA is rigged…. pic.twitter.com/Ud1OihAoPp

— Truth Seeker (@_TruthZone_) May 16, 2024

“I didn’t think anything about it, but you hear a lot of these conspiracy theories and there’s a lot of situations that can make these things sound good and sound true,” Shaquille said last week. “Like, ‘O.K., Dallas gets rid of one of the best players, but oh, we’re getting a new one. Ding, ding, ding.’”

What is most amazing, is the context in which this past lottery happened. Not only are the Mavericks coming from making the biggest trade in recent NBA history, as they sent Luka Doncic to Los Angeles in February’s deadline, but also the fact that Cooper Flagg is set to be the first pick and dominate the league for years to come.

Social media is now flooded with jokes about general manager Nico Harrison, and CEO Rick Welts felt he had to address this narrative of a “rigged” lottery. “I’m the only person who was in this room and the room 40 years ago,”  he said, as he worked for the league office in the first ever NBA lottery in 1985.

“I was in charge of the NBA draft lottery 40 years ago when Patrick Ewing won. I’ve been doing conspiracy theory stories ever since,” Welts told the Washington Post‘s Ben Golliver. “This is very surreal, personally. I am so happy for Mavericks fans.”