This has to be the least deserved #1 overall all time. Won 39 games and a play-in game. And would've made the playoffs if not for making the worst trade in history. 1.8% "odds" Teams (us) are in the tank for years and don't get the #1
I’m 100% done watching the NBA what I’m wondering about is is it the same with MLB in NFL … it probably is
all the critical thinkers knew I knew it was rigged when the French Star went to the nba franchise with largest French base then I called this trade literally the day it happened was gonna lead the Cooper Flagg being in Dallas but even I wasn’t convinced of that totally because this seemed just way too brazen even for something that’s rigged. they really think we are all that stupid though
I'm gonna be ****ing sick. I was a big "they can't rig the draft" guy before but this is just too much...
It just seems so rigged. The Mavs, Sixers and the Spurs have made awful decisions and dug their own graves during the regular season. If they were healthy they would be in playoff contention but teams like the hornets and jazz had no chance of the playoffs. Why are we rewarding these dog **** organizations for making mistakes? Signing paul george to a max contract and the sixers get a top pick for it? Wemby is always hurt and the spurs get the 2nd pick? Silver is a snake. Everyone knows its rigged.
This not being rigged is as believable that Stern didn't intentionally target Wiggins, Lloyd, and Lucas for drug suspensions after knocking out the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals the year before.
1993 Orlando Magic, one year after getting Shaq, won 41 games and had a 1.52% chances of getting the first pick. They won the lottery, selected Webber and traded him for Hardaway and 3 first round picks.
Timeline: Nico makes a historically awful trade and by doing so does the L a huge favor. AD gets injured his first game to the point he is out the entire season allowing the Mavs to be in the lottery. Also, some of their other rotation players are "injured." Mavs have 1.8% odds and someone land the #1 pick. Sure, not rigged.
Let me make sure I understand. - People have been saying that the lottery is fixed since the first one in '85 where Ewing went to NYC. - Each team has a representative in the room to watch the drawing. Sam Strantz, Rockets Senior Team Counsel was the Houston representative. Observers must stay in the room and unable to communicate with anyone outside the room until after the picks are announced. - There's 14 media representatives present - Rod Boone (Charlotte Observer), Mike Curtis ( Dallas Morning News), Jake Fischer ( Bleacher Report), Ben Golliver ( Washington Post), Sean Highkin ( The Rose Garden Report), Andy Larsen ( Salt Lake Tribune),Zach Lowe ( The Ringer), Chris Mannix ( Sports Illustrated), Gina Mizell ( Philadelphia Inquirer), Tom Orsborn ( San Antonio Express), Bill Reiter ( CBS Sports) , Doug Smith (Toronto Star), Sarah Todd (Deseret News) and Mike Vorkunov ( The Athletic). - 14 ping pong balls, numbered 1 through 14 are placed in a Smart Play lottery machine. Before the drawing, Smart Play International inspects and certifies the machine, weighs and measures each of the ping pong balls and certifies them too. - When drawing 4 balls, there's 1001 possible combinations. 1000 of those combinations are assigned across the lottery teams ( number of combinations determined by odds of winning from the draft order). The owners of each combination are distributed prior to the drawing. - The entire process is overseen and certified by Ernst & Young - The 14 balls are placed in the machine, mixed for 20 seconds and the first ball is drawn. The remaining balls are mixed again for 10 seconds and the 2nd number is drawn. Then the remaining balls are mixed for another 10 seconds and a 3rd ball is drawn. One more 10 second mix of the remaining balls and the 4th number is drawn. The owner of the selected combination is awarded the first pick . - The process is repeated to get picks 2 thru 4. If a combination for a draft slot that has already been selected comes up again or the one dead combination is chosen, then the combination is discarded and they do a re-draw for that pick. - The 10 and 20 second intervals for the mixing are monitored by a timekeeper who is facing away from the machine. For this to be fixed, everyone in the room has to be in on the fix. We're to believe that the NBA who is unable to keep their first round selection secret on draft night has been doing this for 40 years and not a single person who observed a fixed lottery has come out and said what was happening? Ok. Smart Play International is in on a fix even though if it ever got out then their company would be out of business. Ernst & Young, a company worth over $50 billion, is in on the fix even though if it ever came out that they were involved in rigging the lottery they would quickly be out of business much like Authur Andersen after the Enron bankrupcy? You seriously believe all that's plausible? If you truly believe that the lottery is fixed, why do you watch the NBA, let alone spend a lot of time on an NBA message board? Why do you get so upset at players for a bad playoff? Wouldn't the natural assumption be that they were in on a fix too?
Lotto isn’t fixed but the revised flat lotto odds only help to fan the conspiracy theories. Atlanta jumped up like 10 spots last yr to pick #1 and Dallas jumped up 12 spots this year. The likelihood of these zany outcomes is increased with flattening the odds so much. When u think about it, it’s not as crazy as it seems. Sucks for teams like Washington and Utah who really need to draft high level talent to dig out from the basement, but that’s the way they designed the lotto.
I agree with the consistency but it’s usually because of trades that the rockets stay relevant. We haven’t had a generational talent from the draft since Hakeem. It makes no sense that our team went through multiple rebuilds and only ended up with one number one pick in 2002. It’s been 23 years since we’ve gotten the top pick in the draft. The Mavs just get gifted this pick with the 4th lowest odds ever in history. Picks like Anthony Edwards, Wemby, Cade, AD, Kyrie, Paolo hell even Zion would be a franchise altering talent. Instead we get stuck with more one dimensional talent like Reed or Jalen. It’s just bullshit if you ask me.
Cavs got gifted the #1 pick for lebron bailing on them. They screwed it up and got another 1st overall pick I believe.
Spare us the sanctimonious lecture about the NBA’s pristine lottery process. Your laundry list of ping-pong ball certifications and Ernst & Young’s supposed infallibility sounds like a press release from Adam Silver’s desk. You’re swallowing the league’s propaganda hook, line, and sinker, but the rest of us aren’t so naive. The Mavericks somehow snagging Cooper Flagg with a pathetic 1.8% chance after dumping Luka Dončić in the most laughably lopsided trade ever—screams rigging so loudly it’s practically a neon sign. I’ll give you one nod: your faith in the NBA’s “transparency” is almost endearing, like a kid believing in Santa. But let’s get real: the numbers, the trade, and the stench of market manipulation tell a different story. First, that Dončić trade in February…An absolute joke. Dallas shipped a 26-year-old, five-time All-NBA superstar to the Lakers for what— nothing and even players are side-eyeing it. Compare that to Kevin Durant’s 2023 haul (four firsts, Mikal Bridges) or Anthony Davis’ 2019 package (Ingram, Ball, picks). No sane GM skips bidding from teams like the rockets , thunder or Nets, or who could’ve thrown in picks and young stars. This wasn’t a trade; it was a scripted handover, with a probability of happening naturally at maybe 5%—tops. Only a fool would think Nico Harrison just forgot how to negotiate. Now, the lottery. Dallas, with a measly 1.8% shot—18 out of 1,000 ping-pong balls—lands Flagg, a generational talent The Ringer calls the best since Zion. Since 2005, only three teams have won with odds below 6%, and Dallas’ 1.8% is the fourth-rarest ever. The odds of this trade-to-lottery jackpot? Try 0.09%—1 in 1,111, like a mid-tier golfer acing the final hole to win a PGA event. That’s not luck; that’s a script… The NBA, obsessed with ratings, plopped Dončić in LA’s mega-market (5.735 million TV homes) and gifted Dallas (3.17 million homes) Flagg to keep them relevant. Smaller markets like Utah or Charlotte? No chance—they don’t move the needle. Your precious oversight? A smokescreen. Smart Play and Ernst & Young are just corporate props, rubber-stamping whatever the NBA wants. The 1985 “frozen envelope” myth lingers for a reason—fans know the league plays favorites. Sure, no one’s leaked in 40 years, but that’s because the NBA keeps the real dirty work tight, probably a handful of execs, not your parade of media reps or team lawyers. And don’t kid yourself: companies like Ernst & Young have survived scandals before—Enron ring a bell? They’re not risking billions over ping-pong balls; they’re just collecting checks. The media in the room? Glorified spectators, not forensic auditors. This isn’t Fort Knox; it’s a show. Why watch the NBA? Because I love the game—players grinding, buzzer-beaters, rivalries—not the suits pulling strings. I’m not saying LeBron or Flagg are in on it; they’re playing their hearts out. But when the Mavericks trade a superstar for pocket change and then hit a 1-in-1,111 jackpot, it’s not fate—it’s a fix. You’re clutching at “certified balls” and “timekeepers” like they’re gospel, but the math and the NBA’s dollar signs don’t lie. but after today, I’m not watching it anymore just like when I was a kid. I finally realized WWE was fake and stopped watching it
