The OFFICIAL "Was the 2025 NBA draft rigged?"

[Mirotic12]

The whole draft lottery thing has always been a complete joke. This just finally makes most people realize it.

[Chokic]

"If the NBA is rigged, why didn't they rig playoff sefies x so team y would win?:

Just because not everything is rigged, doesn't mean nothing is.

Exactly rigging everything is too obvious and fans will catch on very quick.

[SOUL]

In the aggregate, the outcome that optimizes for the greatest good/greatest number of people is one in which the league maximizes interest in the league as a whole and by proxy, television ratings.

Outside of actually creating a dynasty team, which is incredibly difficult and rare, especially given the new CBA, the next best thing owners can do to inflate the values of their franchises is to grow interest in the game.

There are heads of state openly profiting off their positions to the tune of billions of dollars - what makes you think officials won't arrange to add a couple ping pong balls here and there to push fate toward their most favoured outcomes? Rigging can be done much more subtly than you might think.

I hope you know this would imply that every single person is in on it at least a little - from front offices, to coaches, to players. There would be implicit understanding that this is the business once they come into it. That the NBA is nothing but entertainment and they're all benefiting from helping other teams when it makes sense, even if it means their jobs or roster spots.

Nothing is that ironclad. If people think it's actually rigged, which people have for a while now, there would be some actual evidence being worked on besides coincidences or being like "a player went to his hometown team!"

[Rainwater]

"If the NBA is rigged, why didn't they rig playoff sefies x so team y would win?:

Just because not everything is rigged, doesn't mean nothing is.

If you are going to rig one thing why not rig all things? Lol. Legitimacy has already been lost.

Because rigging a lottery behind closed doors is many magnitudes easier than rigging the outcome of a game being played by human beings and being watched by millions of people...

Man, if the NBA really wanted to they can easily rig games with the refs and players throwing games. Recent gambling controversies and whole Tim Donaghy has shown this.

[CallMeKahn]

I was pretty much half paying attention anyways. Catch a game here or there. But some coincidences are just too hard to ignore and certain odds of the most random things happening just belie reality. Eventually, you just have to accept that either the laws of mathematics don't exist in the NBA or the system is just rigged to favor certain outcomes.

Catch y'all when the "lottery" is done away with. Hoping it's soon, but probably not likely.

[ImmortalD24]

These guys predicted it 5 days ago

https://www.tiktok.com/@karterkast/video/7501764603446119722

[maxpower8888]

If you are going to rig one thing why not rig all things? Lol. Legitimacy has already been lost.

Because rigging a lottery behind closed doors is many magnitudes easier than rigging the outcome of a game being played by human beings and being watched by millions of people...

Man, if then really wanted to they can easily rig games with the refs and players throwing games. Recent gambling controversies and whole Tim Donaghy has shown this.

And then people would quickly realize that everything is rigged and stop watching.

[ImmortalD24]

https://www.tiktok.com/@karterkast/video/7501764603446119722

They even named the top 3

[RoxSteady]

I mean, look at them. They clearly know something the rest of us don't.

[Rainwater]

Because rigging a lottery behind closed doors is many magnitudes easier than rigging the outcome of a game being played by human beings and being watched by millions of people...

Man, if then really wanted to they can easily rig games with the refs and players throwing games. Recent gambling controversies and whole Tim Donaghy has shown this.

And then people would quickly realize that everything is rigged and stop watching.

You do realize people watch wrestling, right?

And the fact even after the gambling controversies and referee scandals people still watch kinda disproves your argument as well.

[basketballto]

You can’t say it’s rigged AFTER the result. I didn’t see anyone saying they were going to rig for Dallas an hour ago. We’ve seen teams move up before. It’s not some new occurrence. The Pelicans moved up for Zion. Was that rigged too?


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You can't say its rigged because you didn't know before it became obvious?

[Raps in 4]

Man, if then really wanted to they can easily rig games with the refs and players throwing games. Recent gambling controversies and whole Tim Donaghy has shown this.

And then people would quickly realize that everything is rigged and stop watching.

You do realize people watch wrestling, right?

And the fact even after the gambling controversies and referee scandals people still watch kinda disproves your argument as well.

Wrestling is an entertainment product. It isn't marketed as a competitive sport. It's acting. People watch it the same way they watch theatre.

A rigged sport doesn't have the same appeal.

[Rainwater]

And then people would quickly realize that everything is rigged and stop watching.

You do realize people watch wrestling, right?

And the fact even after the gambling controversies and referee scandals people still watch kinda disproves your argument as well.

Wrestling is an entertainment product. It isn't marketed as a competitive sport. It's acting. People watch it the same way they watch theatre.

A rigged sport doesn't have the same appeal.

Why even call it a sport if it’s rigged then?

[maxpower8888]

Man, if then really wanted to they can easily rig games with the refs and players throwing games. Recent gambling controversies and whole Tim Donaghy has shown this.

And then people would quickly realize that everything is rigged and stop watching.

You do realize people watch wrestling, right?

And the fact even after the gambling controversies and referee scandals people still watch kinda disproves your argument as well.

No it doesn't because those things are one-off events that have never actually been proven. If the NBA was rigging games left and right people would catch on very quickly.

Also, people watch WWE and NBA for very different reasons. Everyone with an IQ above 20 knows the WWE is scripted, there is no expectation for it not to be like there is for the NBA.

[Raps in 4]

You do realize people watch wrestling, right?

And the fact even after the gambling controversies and referee scandals people still watch kinda disproves your argument as well.

Wrestling is an entertainment product. It isn't marketed as a competitive sport. It's acting. People watch it the same way they watch theatre.

A rigged sport doesn't have the same appeal.

Why even call it a sport if it’s rigged then?

The on-court product is still competitive in that the players are trying to win.

[Nate505]

I don't. I just think the Jazz are cursed.

[RoxSteady]

You do realize people watch wrestling, right?

And the fact even after the gambling controversies and referee scandals people still watch kinda disproves your argument as well.

Wrestling is an entertainment product. It isn't marketed as a competitive sport. It's acting. People watch it the same way they watch theatre.

A rigged sport doesn't have the same appeal.

Why even call it a sport if it’s rigged then?

And who can forget when the NBA rigged the lottery to have Zion and Ja Morant go to big market Pelicans and Grizzlies and leave the little guys; New York and the L.A. Lakers with the next picks.

[Raps in 4]

Wrestling is an entertainment product. It isn't marketed as a competitive sport. It's acting. People watch it the same way they watch theatre.

A rigged sport doesn't have the same appeal.

Why even call it a sport if it’s rigged then?

And who can forget when the NBA rigged the lottery to have Zion and Ja Morant go to big market Pelicans and Grizzlies and leave the little guys; New York and the L.A. Lakers with the next picks.

You mean how they awarded the #1 pick (Zion) to the Pelicans after they traded AD to the Lakers? Not rigged at all!

[maxpower8888]

Wrestling is an entertainment product. It isn't marketed as a competitive sport. It's acting. People watch it the same way they watch theatre.

A rigged sport doesn't have the same appeal.

Why even call it a sport if it’s rigged then?

And who can forget when the NBA rigged the lottery to have Zion and Ja Morant go to big market Pelicans and Grizzlies and leave the little guys; New York and the L.A. Lakers with the next picks.

The counter-argument to that is since the Lakers and Knicks are already their biggest markets, they would rig it to prop up smaller markets with star players, to add more financial parity.

[PhilBlackson]

Yes it accomplishes a ton for viewership which obv the Luka move was the starting point.

You make DAL "whole again", add another sub plot between DAL & LAL....give the Spurs the easiest transition for Giannis. Sixers get another shot with Bailey to inject some youth & shooting with Maxey, McCain & Grimes and also give them good wiggle room to pivot off of Embiid if things aren't working out. But it provides the upside for them to compete with BOS next year. And for the helluva it, try to see if CHA can do anything to help get LaMelo back in some conversations.

Everyone of those moves can be fantastic for ratings, sorry if I don't buy it being coincidence.