Is the Lottery Rigged?

[knicksfan974]

What would the NBA gain by sending Wembanyama to the Spurs? Why would the NBA care about New Orleans of all places? When the Knicks were right there, and Zion clearly wanted to go to New York. Why give that NBA mecca that is Minneapolis another first overall pick after they traded for Wiggins?

You guys realize how silly you all sound, right? The NBA doesn't care about sending rookies to particular destinations. Not when these small market teams are basically minor leagues for the Lakers of the world to poach from for pennies on the dollar when the original team develops them. That's where the coercion comes from. Looking at you, Nico Harrison.

Have to be subtle with the rigging, the league knows this. Too obvious and it's bad for business, could be even disastrous. That's why it was so surprising how clearly rigged the Luka trade was. They really messed that one up by making it too obvious. I'm sure they try to be more careful in the future, ruling out any chances of Mavs winning the lottery.

[KGtabake]

I got option #3.

[Lala870]

it clearly is. But also clearly not every single pick, draft, game or playoff series is. Just the times they need it to be. I don't why we see these types of threads all the time with the usual posters defending the billionaire owners as if they're above corruption but it never fails to make me laugh. In every one of these threads the same b.s. questions are posed and answered: "if it's rigged why don't big markets like the Clippers or Knicks win?!!", "how could they keep it quiet?", "how would you get 30 owners to agree", etc. etc. It's exhausting. We get it, there are no conspiracies (despite us learning conspiracists are mostly right these past few years) and everything in the NBA is on the up and up. Nothing to see here!!

I think its even more rigged than you mentioned ... but the posts hit home in my book nonetheless.

Naturally this forum will never be objective the way you would think from a "fan" perspective. Alot of vested interests to defend narratives on this forum from a corporate standpoint.

[FarBeyondDriven]

If I'm a betting man I think Flagg ends up in Chicago or Brooklyn.

David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Wemby were all considered can't miss prospects and they were all sent to a metro region below Charlotte in population, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area, and below Sacramento in GDP, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_United_States_metropolitan_areas_by_GDP.

Flagg may end up in Chicago or Brooklyn but it won't be because of a conspiracy.

yawn. San Antonio is the 7th most populated city in the US, Charlotte is 15th. I get you spam these discussions and are desperate for people to side with you but this is embarrassing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

[Twizlers]

This has been one of the more interesting threads to read in awhile. As someone who didn’t really have an opinion coming into it, I am convinced by the arguments that there is no possible way it’s rigged.

[sp6r=underrated]

If I'm a betting man I think Flagg ends up in Chicago or Brooklyn.

David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Wemby were all considered can't miss prospects and they were all sent to a metro region below Charlotte in population, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area, and below Sacramento in GDP, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_United_States_metropolitan_areas_by_GDP.

Flagg may end up in Chicago or Brooklyn but it won't be because of a conspiracy.

yawn. San Antonio is the 7th most populated city in the US, Charlotte is 15th. I get you spam these discussions and are desperate for people to side with you but this is embarrassing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

Sincere question, are you an American?

In the US, city boundaries are random and fail to capture the accurate size of a population. Metropolitan statistical area better capture the size of an area not city boundaries.

As an example, Atlanta (510,823) is a smaller city than Albuquerque (560,274) by city population. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population. By metro area Atlanta is far larger. Atlanta has 6,411,149 people while Albuquerque has 923,630 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area. The metropolitan area accurately captures the size of the respective markets.

If for some reason the Hawks move to Albuquerque every NBA stakeholder (union, owners, media, etc) would treat the move as a move from a large market to a small market. They'd be furious. They wouldn't view it as a move into a larger city.

So yes San Antonio is a small market in the US because it is part of a small metro area.

I spam these conversations because these topics are stupid. Some of the best can't miss prospects in NBA history have been drafted by teams in small markets.

[sp6r=underrated]

I've said this before. I think some picks are rigged in advance, and I think some picks are random. These franchise-altering #1 picks are simply too valuable to allow their allocation to be left purely to chance. At the same time, the league can say, "Lottery picks are left to chance," and they'd be correct, as technically many of them are.

The Pelicans getting Zion Williamson to rebuild with after imploding with the Anthony Davis trade demand and suspension, while the Lakers concurrently move up to get a #4 pick they can use to complete the Anthony Davis trade, is just too wonderful a coincidence for the league and both franchises involved. It stabilized the Pelicans franchise and pushed Lebron and the Lakers into contention. The mathematical probability of both these events occurring was miniscule.

Also, I remember Kyrie Irving's dad was quoted as saying that Kyrie was going to "run the show up in Cleveland" before that draft lottery.

If the NBA was fixing the lottery in 2019 they would have fixed it for NY. Metro NY has 20x the population of Metro New Orleans. A winner in NYC would be far, far more valuable than a winner in New Orleans.

New Orleans winning the lottery with Zion is a data point in favor of the lottery not being fixed.

[RB34]

Only when it doesn’t benefit me and benefits a team I don’t like.

[sp6r=underrated]

It’s not rigged and the people who think it is rigged are stupid as hell

They aren't stupid. Lots of em are smart. They have extremely low social trust and that mindset causes so much problems in the world today.

[TimberKat]

If I'm a betting man I think Flagg ends up in Chicago or Brooklyn.

David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Wemby were all considered can't miss prospects and they were all sent to a metro region below Charlotte in population, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area, and below Sacramento in GDP, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_United_States_metropolitan_areas_by_GDP.

Flagg may end up in Chicago or Brooklyn but it won't be because of a conspiracy.

yawn. San Antonio is the 7th most populated city in the US, Charlotte is 15th. I get you spam these discussions and are desperate for people to side with you but this is embarrassing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

You people obviously don't understand US geography and viewing things from the Soviet distrust lens. We don't go by city population when think about viewership. We go by metro area sizes. Some of these metro are even linked to other metros. SA is at most #24. I may believe you if you tell me Spurs is the most popular team in Mexico. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area

[TimberKat]

I've said this before. I think some picks are rigged in advance, and I think some picks are random. These franchise-altering #1 picks are simply too valuable to allow their allocation to be left purely to chance. At the same time, the league can say, "Lottery picks are left to chance," and they'd be correct, as technically many of them are.

The Pelicans getting Zion Williamson to rebuild with after imploding with the Anthony Davis trade demand and suspension, while the Lakers concurrently move up to get a #4 pick they can use to complete the Anthony Davis trade, is just too wonderful a coincidence for the league and both franchises involved. It stabilized the Pelicans franchise and pushed Lebron and the Lakers into contention. The mathematical probability of both these events occurring was miniscule.

Also, I remember Kyrie Irving's dad was quoted as saying that Kyrie was going to Cleveland before that draft lottery.

this is correct . Take last years draft clearly not rigged . This year however with Flagg the NBA will be choosy where he goes .

You people need to study probability, economics, and stop watching Fox News. NBA had no need to rigg it these days. There is this thing call Free Agency after a player completes their training with the "farm team". They can send them to any team that the NBA mob bosses decides.

If success is relatively random, that means 1/3 of the teams in the lottery are "big metro" teams. So, if you tell me it's not rigg all the time but just once a while. It's the same results as random, therefore, no need to rigg. This year we have WAS, NO, PHI, SAS, HOU, BKN, DAL, CHI, and ATL all can be considered rigg cities one way or other. What is the chance #1 end up with one of them? Therefore no need to rigg. It will definitely fit one of your 50 million conspiracies, never mind the other 49.999m are wrong.

[jbk1234]

Why do the Lakers keep getting superstars throughout history?

Clippers play in LA and their history is the complete opposite.

Big markets play a huge role in the business of the NBA. The league needs their big markets to be successful.

The lottery are usually bad teams. It's kind of hard to pick good markets for stars considering the teams picking are generally small market teams.

If I'm a betting man I think Flagg ends up in Chicago or Brooklyn.

The Knicks and Clippers have had pretty bad lottery luck and they're from the two biggest markets in the U.S. The last good lottery pick the Bulls landed was Rose. Despite all their tanking during the process era, the Sixers only got the No. 1 pick once and it was used on Ben Simmons. The Lakers tanked hard enough to retain a top 3 protected pick for multiple years and never got No.1.

Wemby ended up in S.A. The problem with conspiracy theories is that while there will be a couple of out-of-context data points to support them, you have to ignore mountains of countervailing evidence to actually buy in.

[TimberKat]

I spam these conversations because these topics are stupid. Some of the best can't miss prospects in NBA history have been drafted by teams in small markets.

It's a question someone was asking so please spam some sanity. I initially read it thinking it's a satire or some funny jokes but seems to me some people really believe in the rigg for whatever reason.

[FarBeyondDriven]

David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Wemby were all considered can't miss prospects and they were all sent to a metro region below Charlotte in population, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area, and below Sacramento in GDP, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_United_States_metropolitan_areas_by_GDP.

Flagg may end up in Chicago or Brooklyn but it won't be because of a conspiracy.

yawn. San Antonio is the 7th most populated city in the US, Charlotte is 15th. I get you spam these discussions and are desperate for people to side with you but this is embarrassing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

You people obviously don't understand US geography and viewing things from the Soviet distrust lens. We don't go by city population when think about viewership. We go by metro area sizes. Some of these metro are even linked to other metros. SA is at most #24. I may believe you if you tell me Spurs is the most popular team in Mexico. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area

tell that to the owners who want fans sitting in the seats spending money on concessions, parking and merch and eats at their buddies' restaurants. You think they gaf about someone that lives three hours away that watches on TV and doesn't go to games just because he's in the "metro region" lmao? I'm sure they're super happy for his "viewership" but that viewership is tied to TV money that is spread across all teams and doesn't benefit the Spurs like a family of four living in the suburbs actually going to games does.

[sp6r=underrated]

I spam these conversations because these topics are stupid. Some of the best can't miss prospects in NBA history have been drafted by teams in small markets.

It's a question someone was asking so please spam some sanity. I initially read it thinking it's a satire or some funny jokes but seems to me some people really believe in the rigg for whatever reason.

Due to low social trust lots of people convince themselves of things that make no sense. Why would the NBA want to send Zion to New Orleans over NYC?

[7seventynine9]

It's definitely not rigged. I also think if they were to rig it, they'd be clever about it. It wouldn't be Cleveland winning the lottery the year of LeBron. It would be a team moving up from 11 to 2 because no one is focusing on the 2nd pick.

[TimberKat]

yawn. San Antonio is the 7th most populated city in the US, Charlotte is 15th. I get you spam these discussions and are desperate for people to side with you but this is embarrassing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

You people obviously don't understand US geography and viewing things from the Soviet distrust lens. We don't go by city population when think about viewership. We go by metro area sizes. Some of these metro are even linked to other metros. SA is at most #24. I may believe you if you tell me Spurs is the most popular team in Mexico. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area

tell that to the owners who want fans sitting in the seats spending money on concessions, parking and merch and eats at their buddies' restaurants. You think they gaf about someone that lives three hours away that watches on TV and doesn't go to games just because he's in the "metro region" lmao? I'm sure they're super happy for his "viewership" but that viewership is tied to TV money that is spread across all teams and doesn't benefit the Spurs like a family of four living in the suburbs actually going to games does.

That is why I tell you to look at US geo before you go there. Hornets play in Charlotte but people drive from Huntersville, Mathews, Fort Mill (SC),etc to watch games. People in US don't walk or bus or train for most part. They drive their pickup trucks You should look at Google maps before coming up with crazy theories.

You do have one thing right, the money is spread across teams. Think of them operate a casino. They win either way, no need to rigg lottery. However, having stars on big name teams do help ratings, but that is a different story.

[Lalouie]

after 60years, if it was rigged someone would have exposed it by now

but it's fun to talk about

[TimberKat]

It's definitely not rigged. I also think if they were to rig it, they'd be clever about it. It wouldn't be Cleveland winning the lottery the year of LeBron. It would be a team moving up from 11 to 2 because no one is focusing on the 2nd pick.

All those years of Shaq, LBJ, and Duncan are exceptions which NBA didn't rigg. They only rigg once a while . What is funny about all this too is that the biggest NBA superstars these days don't come from the #1 pick. Jokic, Luka, Giannis, Tatum, KD, SGA, etc.

[Catchall]

I've said this before. I think some picks are rigged in advance, and I think some picks are random. These franchise-altering #1 picks are simply too valuable to allow their allocation to be left purely to chance. At the same time, the league can say, "Lottery picks are left to chance," and they'd be correct, as technically many of them are.

The Pelicans getting Zion Williamson to rebuild with after imploding with the Anthony Davis trade demand and suspension, while the Lakers concurrently move up to get a #4 pick they can use to complete the Anthony Davis trade, is just too wonderful a coincidence for the league and both franchises involved. It stabilized the Pelicans franchise and pushed Lebron and the Lakers into contention. The mathematical probability of both these events occurring was miniscule.

Also, I remember Kyrie Irving's dad was quoted as saying that Kyrie was going to "run the show up in Cleveland" before that draft lottery.

If the NBA was fixing the lottery in 2019 they would have fixed it for NY. Metro NY has 20x the population of Metro New Orleans. A winner in NYC would be far, far more valuable than a winner in New Orleans.

New Orleans winning the lottery with Zion is a data point in favor of the lottery not being fixed.

Disagree. New Orleans winning the lottery in 2019 was compensation for sending Anthony Davis to the Lakers. Sending AD to play with Lebron in LA was a higher priority than giving Zion to the Knicks.