The Dallas Mavericks winning the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery has sparked conspiracy theories claiming that the process is rigged and that the NBA “rewarded” the Mavericks with Cooper Flagg after sending Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February.
The Mavs entered Monday’s proceedings with a 1.8% chance of winning the lottery and were projected to pick 11th overall in next month’s draft. But they ended up overtaking favored teams like the Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, and Charlotte Hornets, among others, to earn the right to select first overall in next month’s NBA Draft.
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While moving 10 spots up the ladder isn’t improbable, Dallas’ background makes it controversial. ESPN insider Tim Bontemps, however, shut down those accusations.
“The draft lottery isn’t rigged,” wrote Bontemps on ‘X.’ “I’ve sat and watched the ping pong balls come out. There’s no rigging it.”
The drawing of ping-pong balls is witnessed by the media
Another reason why conspiracy theorists say the NBA Draft Lottery is rigged is because the actual drawing of the ping-pong balls is no longer shown on live TV as it was in the past. However, the league invites select media members to attend the ball drawing, which takes place in a separate room in the venue right before the national TV broadcast.
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It’s not clear if Bontemps was among Monday’s witnesses, but he says he’s been inside that room before, and if you watch the actual process, there’s no way that the results can be manipulated. What Tim is saying, however, is that the rules in place may be unfair to the bottom-feeder teams.
“Rather than saying that (that it’s rigged), I do think a fair thing to wonder is if the new rules have helped, or if they’ve created more problems than they’ve solved. Today didn’t help that,” added Bontemps.
The Draft Lottery does not serve its purpose because of salary cap restrictions
The NBA Draft Lottery was created so that teams would be discouraged from tanking. Back in the early 80s, teams raced to the worst record because the league tossed a coin between the two bottom teams to determine who got to pick first overall.
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However, in recent years, the CBA has created salary cap restrictions that make it difficult for teams to improve by signing top free agents. As a result, they are resorting to tanking again because the draft is their best chance at improving.
“All the Luka stuff aside, the team that will draft Cooper Flagg already has three future Hall of Famers on it. The team picking No. 2 already has a generational player in Wemby and the reigning Rookie of the Year. This isn’t the route to competitive balance,” said FS1’s Rachel Nichols.
That’s spot on. Dallas has Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson on their team, but because they gave away Luka and suffered a string of unfortunate injuries, they missed the playoffs and got longshot odds at winning the draft lottery. Whether it’s rigged or not is besides the point. Dallas should not have been in a position to earn the No.1 pick, just as the San Antonio Spurs shouldn’t choose No.2