The conspiracy that surrounds Dallas Mavericks No. 1 pick

When dealing with anything that depends on statistics and possibilities, you are always going to find people questioning everything. How many times has UEFA been accused of rigging the Champions League draw in favour of one team or another? It's a common thing for people, when we don't want to accept that a random result doesn't benefit our interests, so we conspire about a possible pact of interests.

This has been the case with the NBA Draft Lottery, which last Monday, May 12, awarded Dallas with the number 1 pick. This is a great advantage, since this is where the most promising basketball players are chosen. Normally, there is one talent that stands out above the rest and this year it is Cooper Flagg, a player from Duke University, one of the most prestigious universities for basketball players.

If you follow the NBA, you know about the Luka Dončić-Anthony Davis trade, one of the most controversial in league history. Nico Harrison, the Mavs' general manager, became a public enemy of every fan of the franchise, but with this turn of events, he may have got the upper hand. It's very hard to know with players this young, who may be subject to injury or various setbacks, but for now he may get one of the biggest prospects of the decade.

What has started the conspiracy?

Dallas was everyone's surprise, winning the Lottery with a 1.8 percent chance, the fourth-lowest odds in history to land a No. 1 pick. It beat the four worst teams in the competition: Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz, and New Orleans Pelicans. Breaking all the odds is already a matter of doubt for NBA fans, but against the backdrop of the Dončić trade, it is rumoured that the league wanted to benefit the franchise by trading a generational talent like the Slovenian.

The conspiracy involves a pact between Nico Harrison, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka to move Dončić to the more media-friendly franchise to join LeBron, and in return, Harrison would receive the number one pick.

People in social media believe that it can't be a coincidence to trade away your biggest star and the future of the franchise, like Dirk Nowitzki, and then all of a sudden you get a star. That's why all this speculation has started. Aside from this possible pact, a Mavs fan on his X account has proposed a theory that has been making the rounds. He says that after a big trade, the team that gives up its star usually benefits from the first pick. For example, the New Orleans Hornets traded Chris Paul to the Clippers and received the number one pick in the next draft. That way, they chose none other than... Anthony Davis.

Is this the first time similar accusations have surfaced?

This Draft Lottery format is 40 years old this year, so there will be years where the controversy may be hot. But there was one year when the controversy was even more fiery. It was 1985 when the NBA implemented this model and there were a number of circumstances. The New York Knicks were one of seven contenders for the number one pick after a poor season. The city's market is one of the largest in the United States and had not competed for the championship for years, so the league had an economic interest in making it successful again.

The envelope containing the Knicks logo was pulled in the first instance, securing the number one pick for the New York franchise. In that draft the first pick was Patrick Ewing, who went on to become a team legend and eleven-time All-Star. Although there has never been any evidence of such rigging, the fact that NBA commissioner David Stern was a native New Yorker fuelled the rumours.

It's inevitable that people will talk about potential conflicts of interest, especially when we're talking about a private league that has a vested interest in itself that involves a lot of money. But we have to try to trust the integrity of the sport because otherwise you see shadows and black hands everywhere.

Do you think the NBA has benefited the Texans?