Mallory Edens once again appeared at the NBA Draft Lottery this weekend. The daughter of Milwaukee Bucks owner Wes Edens first appeared at the NBA Draft Lottery in 2014. That year, the Bucks earned the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA Draft.
This year, the Bucks didn’t have as much luck. They ended up with the No. 10 overall pick. Edens, understandably, was disappointed. However, she still enjoyed the opportunity.
Edens, who went viral back in 2014 for her appearance, received some criticism from a fan for her appearance in 2026. She handled it well, though.
Mallory Edens speaks out.Edens/IG
“(Expletive) she aging fast. Remember when she was a smokeshow and the talk of the draft lottery when she first appeared,” one fan wrote on X.
Edens responded: “The first time I did the lottery, I was in highschool. I had turned 18 a few weeks beforehand and every single one of the photos of me in a bikini that went viral on the internet in the aftermath were taken when I was 15 or 16 years old. Of course I have aged – I was a child.
“I find it so strange that women are asked to delay womanhood as long as possible in favor of some kind of eternal girlhood. I don’t want to be a girl, I don’t aspire to look like a teenager. I am very happy to be a woman. If your beauty standard for me is to look like a child that’s your problem but not mine. This is not the insult that you think it is.”
Edens was ‘hurt’ by the 2014 NBA Draft Lottery moment
Edens admitted that back in 2014, when she first went viral, she was hurt by everything said about her.
“I actually think people actually don’t know that much about me and I think that the biggest misconception — is just that they don’t know that much about me,” Edens said on a podcast. “I went really viral on the internet at a really young age and it put me in this place where I felt so protective of myself because the things people were saying online about me at that time felt so harmful.
“And I don’t know that I’ve ever if really left that protective casing. So, I think the misconception is just I don’t think people know me that well online.”
Good for Edens for speaking out.
This story was originally published by The Spun on May 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.