When the Dallas Mavericks won the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, Bill Simmons vowed to be morally outraged.<\/p>\n
He delivered on his promise<\/a>, as did The Ringer\u2019s Joe House<\/a>. And so did just about everyone else, really, except Nick Wright<\/a>. It reminded Jim Rome of David Stern\u2019s bizarre response to the rigged NBA Draft theory<\/a>, because once again, everyone was theorizing<\/a> that the league had rewarded a team for trading their superstar player to the Los Angeles Lakers with a No. 1 overall pick.<\/p>\n See: Zion Williamson. Almost Chris Paul. And, now, Luka Don\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n Everyone has a theory. And in a league that thrives on drama, that\u2019s part of the spectacle.<\/p>\n Richard Jefferson leaned into the spectacle on his Road Trippin\u2019 podcast, but also offered a slightly more grounded perspective that sometimes, the two percent just happens.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone wants to say it\u2019s rigged, but the NBA likes that illusion of this,\u201d the NBA on ESPN analyst explained. \u201cThey like it. It\u2019s part of the allure. The NBA is the most dramatic sport. It\u2019s the second-biggest sport in the world, but it is the most dramatic. I stand by that basketball is more dramatic per capita than soccer, worldwide. And I\u2019m not saying like worldwide we know soccer\u2019s bigger; I\u2019m saying the drama that goes into basketball players on and off the court, whether it\u2019s the job, whether it\u2019s the [inaudible]. All the drama that basketball\u2019s delivering, the pettiness, the dads on the court talking sh*t to Hall of Famers, the NBA is always full of some sh*t.\u201d<\/p>\n The idea that the NBA wants the conspiracy theories to run rampant might seem far-fetched until you realize just how much of the league\u2019s narrative fuel comes from the off-court narratives. And yet, as Jefferson points out, that doesn\u2019t mean the lottery itself is a sham.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s billionaires out there competing for Cooper Flagg,\u201d Jefferson continues. \u201cYou think the Washington Wizards owner (Ted Leonsis) is going to let something be rigged and miss out on a guy that changes his franchise? Steph [Curry] changed the Warriors\u2019 franchise. It was like $450 million when [Joe Lacob] bought it, to $4 billion now. Players that change your franchise by billions? You think they\u2019re just going to be like, \u2018Oh, the Spurs got Wemby and Tim [Duncan]; it\u2019s rigged.’\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s no secret plot orchestrated by Adam Silver, at least not in Jefferson\u2019s eyes. As the third member on ESPN\u2019s lead NBA broadcast team, he doesn\u2019t buy the idea that a group of billionaire owners who can\u2019t even align on basic league policies would quietly concede a franchise-altering talent if the outcome were truly predetermined.<\/p>\n \u201cYou think these owners would just let Wemby go to San Antonio for the sake of the f*cking league?\u201d Jefferson asked. \u201cYou think [James] Dolan would do that? You think [Mat] Ishbia would do that? You think Jeanie Buss would allow that to happen? Hell no. That\u2019s why the Chris Paul trade didn\u2019t go through. The Chris Paul trade didn\u2019t go through to the Lakers because the owners stopped that sh*t. They was like, \u2018Nah, we ain\u2019t having that.\u2019 But y\u2019all think they\u2019re going to let them rig the draft, or draft lottery? Come on.\u201d<\/p>\n Jefferson doesn\u2019t deny that the league invites coincidence, sometimes a little too comfortably. You got him there.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to connect the dots if you want to; Jefferson even encourages it because he gets the impulse.<\/p>\n \u201cI know it not to be true,\u201d the 17-year NBA vet said. \u201cBut I 100% agree with y\u2019all with the rabbit hole. Some of this sh*t is too much of a coincidence.<\/p>\n In the short term, the Mavericks just won the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes, and the NBA got another round of oxygen to fuel its never-ending drama cycle. But the bigger question is whether the league can keep feeding into the drama without eroding public trust, especially as the rabbit hole keeps getting deeper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Dallas Mavericks won the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, Bill Simmons vowed to be morally outraged. 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