(Editor’s Note: this is being re-published from June 12, 2014. Also, check out the 2017 edition of this article from 2015, in which we made a conspiracy theory for every single team in the 2017 Draft lottery, drops Sunday, 6am central)
You’ve all heard at least one of your friends say: “The NBA is rigged!” at least three times. If it has been said more than ten times by the individual, please slap this person across the face.
Maybe there are some NBA conspiracy theories that should be looked into, though. We now present to you three instances where the NBA may have been rigged within the last 10 years.
1. The 2008 NBA Draft Lottery: The Chicago Bulls had a 1.7 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick in the draft. You know what happened!
The Bulls ended up with the first pick in the draft and selected Derrick Rose. Sure, you can argue that if the Bulls didn’t trade LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas, they wouldn’t have even been in this position. There was no way to tell that the power forward would be this good, though. So, was the lottery rigged in ’08?
The Bulls didn’t have a superstar since Michael Jordan. Yes, in the ’06-’07 season they made it to the semifinals and pushed the Pistons to six games, but did GM John Paxson, at the time, need a great player to brand the franchise?
Absolutely.
The NBA needed the Bulls to be one of the top teams in the league again because of how dedicated Chicago sports fans are and how huge the Chicago market is. While Rose hasn’t been healthy the past couple seasons, he won MVP and brought the Bulls to the Eastern Conference Finals in the ’10-’11 season. Consider that a win for David Stern, the commissioner during that span.
2. The Cleveland Cavaliers reel in the No. 1 pick… again: Are the lottery balls even taken out of the machine anymore?
After the Cavaliers won the lottery in May for the third time in four seasons, there’s reason to question. Cleveland has been deprived a championship for 50 years now. For the three major sports of football, basketball, and baseball, that’s a freaking long time.
Now, with the rumors that LeBron James could be headed back to the Cavs this summer, new GM David Griffin could build a powerhouse in Quicken Loans Arena. Think about a potential trio of:
LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Andrew Wiggins/Jabari Parker/Joel Embiid. That’s just scary. On top of that, after the organization guessed wrong with Anthony Bennett, the league might have wanted to give the Cavaliers another shot. Well, this summer is make-or-break in Cleveland.
3. 2006 NBA Finals Game 5: There’s always the option of looking at the Western Conference Finals in ’02, but how about when the referees officially fell in love with Dwayne Wade?
The series was tied at two apiece, and Miami held a clear advantage at the free throw line. The Heat shot 49 free throws at the charity stripe compared to the Dallas Mavericks, who shot 25 as a team. How many did Dwayne Wade shoot? 25.
You can argue that Wade has gotten away with many fouls on the defensive end, but this game might have been where he reached stardom level. Obviously Jordan and Kobe Bryant had received bias all of the time, yet ‘Flash’ wasn’t considered to be at their level. Therefore, the ‘phantom foul’ was coined for Wade, as it looked like he was creating contact with the air, not the defender.
Don’t believe me.
Believe me.
“DOOONN’T CAREEEEE,” as Jay Cutler likes to say.
However, keep the NBA conspiracy theories in the back of your head. Maybe big news will break one day, the hard evidence will come forth, and you’ll be able to say sorry for slapping your friend. In the meantime, check out this exclusive with Tim Donaghy; whether you believe him or not, he certainly says some interesting things; which always make for a lively debate!