The NBA initially came up with the idea for the Draft Lottery all the way back in 1985.
Would it shock anyone if the league had certain preferences of where their generational talents ended up?
I will say in his situation back in 2003, the league at least had some cover.
Entering that Lottery, CLE was 17-65.
They had the most balls in the lottery machine and a 22.5% chance of winning.
But something like the DRose draft?
That’s an entirely different story.
A huge market, a premiere franchise, a homegrown player, sound familiar?
There have been plenty of other suspicious Lottery results that certainly play into the whole conspiracy angle.
Remember when LeBron left for the Heat in the summer of 2010?
Well, what do we think happened in the 2011 Lottery?
At that time, the Cavs had 2 picks.
Their own and the Clippers pick.
The prize that year was point guard Kyrie Irving.
How about when the Hornets won the Lottery in 2012 to win the Anthony Davis sweepstakes?
A sale goes through, and then one month later in May, that team wins the Lottery?
We saw the Cavs, for the first time since 1992-1993, win the Lottery in back-to-back years.
Now, what else happened later that summer in 2014 after the Cavs won the Lottery?
Oh, that’s right, LeBron came back to CLE!
I’m sure the league office had zero idea that was on the horizon!
We’re not done.
How about in 2019, when AD demanded a trade out of New Orleans?
You may remember this as the Zion draft.
Another generational talent entering the league.
Where did he end up?
Shit, you might even look at the recent Wemby draft and raise some questions.
This is a player the NBA is very invested in and needs to develop into an all time player.
Can any of this be proven?
No, which is why they are conspiracy theories.
From Day 1 in 1985 all the way to now in 2025, the #signs keep showing up.
I do now wonder if Adam Silver or the league office will do something about this LeBron quote though.
The biggest player in your sport is on national TV talking about how the Lottery is pretty much rigged?
