One of the biggest theories in the NBA is that the NBA Draft lottery system is rigged. After the Dallas Mavericks won the 2025 NBA Draft lottery this year, the theory came back around.
Dallas entered the lottery with just a 1.8 percent chance to win, so they weren't even a thought. But only a few months since the team traded away franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic, the Mavericks will now be landing another generational talent.
The Mavericks' win sparked all sorts of theories about the NBA being rigged. Multiple times over the past 20 years, when a team has traded a franchise player or lost one in free agency, they have then won the No. 1 pick.
Well, even former players are looking into this. NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal has now fueled this theory with his own draft story.
According to O'Neal, former NBA commissioner David Stern asked him what type of weather he wanted to play in when he was entering the league. O'Neal told him warm weather, and then the Orlando Magic won the NBA Draft lottery.
'You want to play where it's cold or where it's hot?'..I said hot... Orlando, Florida, number one [pick]."
The admission from O'Neal certainly sparks more thought into these fan theories. O'Neal mentioned that the Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Hornets were also in the mix to land him at the top of the draft board.
But due to his warm weather desire, the league may have had the Magic win the lottery. While there is no concrete evidence of the system being rigged, there have been a few too many coincidences.
Even former NBA guard Dwyane Wade has gotten into the theory, hinting that the league does what's best for business.
"It's a business," he said in a recent interview.
"But this is a business that we are a part of. And I think people forget that in the competition of sports and what we love, because we grow up playing sports, and it's not a business when we grow up. But when you're in the NBA, it's a business. And the business has to do its best job to make sure that, you know, it's taken care of," he said.
The Mavericks will now have a chance to draft forward Cooper Flagg out of Duke, giving them an expected next superstar. If the league is rigged, then the Mavericks just happened to be the beneficiaries of it this time around.
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This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 11:30 AM.