After a rollercoaster season in which they traded future Hall-of-Famer Luka Doncic to the Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks secured the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft Lottery with just a 1.8% chance of doing so beforehand. Several reports have all but confirmed the Mavs will take Cooper Flagg with the top pick in June.
The Duke basketball icon won Naismith Player of the Year as a freshman and led the Blue Devils in all major statistical categories – points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks – before their run to the Final Four.
Given Dallas’ incredibly low pre-draft odds at the No. 1 pick, many have boldly accused the NBA of rigging the lottery for the Mavs. Former NFL Rookie of the Year and Heisman winner Robert Griffin III confronted the idea of a rigged lottery on Twitter.
“Dear NBA fans, this is a safe space. Is the NBA Draft lottery rigged? Why or why not,” Griffin tweeted. “The Dallas Mavericks made the worst trade in NBA History sending Luka Doncic to the Lakers and then got rewarded with the #1 pick in the draft lottery to potentially draft Cooper Flagg. WHAT!?”
Most basketball fans questioned the logic of Mavs general manager Nico Harrison’s decision to trade Doncic, and some of those same fans are now suggesting that Harrison knew his team would receive the No. 1 pick all along. Griffin III backed his support of this conspiracy theory with evidence from past draft lotteries.
“Does trading your Superstar in his prime = winning the NBA Lottery #1 pick,” Griffin wrote. “Magic traded T-Mac in 2004 – Won the lottery to draft Dwight Howard in 2004. Pelicans traded AD in 2019 – Won the lottery to draft Zion in 2019. Even the Cavs won the lottery in 2011 when they lost LeBron in 2010 to draft Kyrie Irving.”
While Griffin III’s handful of examples doesn’t actually prove anything, the former Pro-Bowl quarterback isn’t the only one suspicious of foul play from Adam Silver and the NBA. He finished his thoughts on Dallas landing the top pick in a later tweet.
“The fix is definitely in, but whether the NBA Draft lottery is rigged or not, the NBA just saved Nico Harrison’s job,” Griffin tweeted. “Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis is an unbelievable potential big 3 in Dallas.”