Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal shared an interesting story from before he was drafted in the NBA that involved former NBA commissioner David Stern.

Shaq told me a story about David Stern and the NBA Draft… and now I’m questioning EVERYTHING😳

Full convo with Shaq drops this Saturday 👀⁰#NBADraft #Conspiracy #Shaq #DavidStern #NBA pic.twitter.com/lHAMUqkzxz

— Ashley Nevel (@AshleyNevel) May 15, 2025

“In 1992, I think the draft was in June or something, I meet Mr. Stern in March, and he says to me, ‘Hey, I know who you are, can’t wait for you to come to the NBA,’” O’Neal said on Ashley Nevel’s podcast. “Then he pulled me to the side. ‘You want to play where it’s cold or where it’s hot?’ He asked me that. Yeah, he did. He asked me that. And I was like, ‘Hot.’ And he smiled, and I smiled. And then, couple days later they had the draft thing and the top three things. Minnesota was No. 3. And then Charlotte was No. 2 and then Orlando, Florida was No. 1. I didn’t think anything about it. You hear a lot of these conspiracy theories, and there’s a lot of situations that could make these things sound good and sound true.”

While O’Neal didn’t come out and say that the draft lottery was rigged for him to land with the Orlando Magic, it’s certainly interesting that the results turned out the way that they did.

Orlando ended up taking the Hall of Famer with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1992 NBA Draft.

After sharing his story about meeting Stern, O’Neal referenced the draft lottery for the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft, where the Dallas Mavericks landed the No. 1 overall pick.

Dallas traded away superstar Luka Doncic during the 2024-25 season in a blockbuster deal with the Lakers, but it ended up winning the lottery, giving it a chance to draft Duke University star Cooper Flagg.

Flagg is widely expected to be the top selection in the upcoming draft after he led the Duke Blue Devils to the Final Four in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

As a freshman at Duke, Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from 3-point range. He would give Dallas another potential star alongside Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving (once Irving recovers from an ACL tear that ended his 2024-25 season).

O’Neal didn’t end up spending his entire career with the Magic, but he did make an All-Star team in all four of his seasons with the franchise.

Then, O’Neal joined the Lakers and became a key part of three NBA titles alongside Kobe Bryant. He won three NBA Finals MVP awards with Los Angeles and ended up winning four titles in his career (one with the Miami Heat) before retiring.

A 15-time All-Star, O’Neal is recognized as one of the most dominant players in NBA history because of his elite post game. He finished his career averaging 23.7 points and 10.9 rebounds per game.