Event 2025 NBA DRAFT LOTTERY, COMBINE, AND DRAFT

I think when they can make plenty of money they will take the action that minimizes risk.

Some crazy conspiracy with dozens, or hundreds of people needing to play a role, all keeping quiet and for some crazy payoff of player x going to one team and player Y going to another market makes absolutely zero sense.

Businesses are worried about other things that put money in their pockets, not how to screw over some delusion Blazer fanatics.

 

Catching up here. Many are talking about owners and the league. But there is a much larger entity potentially at work. The Advertising industry. If viewership is down, that means advertisers are getting less eyeballs on their products.
They aren't able to brainwash us with their rerun commercials every break. This is where the money is coming from and has potential to be lost. Advertising money.
Do I think corporate advertisers got the owners and league to do dirty? No.
Do i think it’s possible? Hell yeah it is. Advertising money runs this country. Its a form of lobbying and its evil and gonna take our economy/society down one day one way or another.

 

So now the conspiracy isn't to help big markets, it's to help small markets that lost a star?

Except for not the Spurs, and not Pelicans as they got Zion before the Davis trade.

Really hard to understand the evolving motivation behind this conspiracy.

How many people do you think would have to be part of this conspiracy and all agree for decades to remain silent? Dozens? Hundreds? Super impressive the NBA can keep every single one of their mouths shut better than the FBI and governments all over the world.

 

I think it’s fishy and I’m on Nate’s side on this it would be foolish to think billion dollar doesn’t consider something like this to save their business. That said I’m not convinced it happened but definitely think it could.

also for the record I like Fox News although unlike most I don’t believe any of the networks. Each is owned by billionaires with their own agendas.

 

That's where your assumptions are off.
It doesn't need to be a big network. Just 3-4 people is all that is needed to pull it off. The smaller the group, the better.

 

The Mavs and Lakers were somehow able to keep the Luka trade quiet for weeks until it was complete. People can definitely keep a secret when they want to.

 

I don't understand the benefit of the NBA having some conspiracy to get the Mavs to do a trade they don't want to do to send their superstar to an LA team that wasnt very good anyways for a 19 year old rookie that we really don't know how great he'll be. Plus have 28 owners for other teams agree it's a great idea. It makes as much logical sense to me as the earth being flat.

Also all the work to keep some conspiracy like this confidential for years or decades?

If the NBA wants big markets to do better they could just give them cap rules to do so or have the cap adjusted for cost of living in those cities or some other mechanism. Instead the NBA actually does the opposite actions with rules to help small markets.

That makes sense if you think of the NBA being run by 30 owners with more small markets than big.

Maybe it's more fun for you to yell about how it's rigged for the Lakers. Enjoy sir!

 

I’m fucking pissed. Didn’t give ourself a chance. Directionless ass franchise

 

@Natebishop3

SMH! This isn't one corporation though. It's a sports league filled with billionaire owners. Every owner in the lotto would have had significant benefits from being able to draft Flagg. None of them are going to be cool with the corruption that you are suggesting... they also all have multiple business ventures and wouldn't want their reputation to take the hit that a scandal would bring their way. You haven't pointed out anything close to benefits that would justify the risk of illegitimacy the league and everybody involved in the league would be taking on.

Ernst & Young is a $52B company whose reputation of integrity is a big part of what they sell. So please enlighten me as to why all of these billionaires, the league, it's broadcasting partners, it's other sponsors and everyone else involved would just go along with the blatant corruption that you are suggesting???

The players coming into the league are going to boost the ratings regardless of where they land. Also the game's viewership is too international now to continue to point to LA, New York or anywhere else. I just thought you were smarter than this. I guess that was a gross overestimation.

Comparing one rogue company who very few knew about until Enron was already being caught, to a sports entertainment entity that might be the most globally exposed that there is, is so fucking weak. The idea is so played out and you don't even factor in the component that there are huge news organizations that the NBA does no business with (like Fox News) that view the NBA as a liberal problem, for those entities not to break these types of stories that people like you keep alleging are so obvious.

I'm not ruling out corruption, it's the widespread nature of it that I find so preposterous. Also sports leagues are just such a weird place for people to try to allege these huge conspiracies. They are so scrutinized, they are government regulated, they have multiple competing ownership groups. It's just the least likely place to be getting away with what you're so basselessly alleging that they've been doing for decades.

 

If this were communist China, Venezuela, Cuba I could see it happen. Their cartels are not beholden to anyone and if you turn on them you'll get thrown out of a window, or poisoned. The association ownership group police not only the Commissioner by each other. Sure anything is possible but rigging the draft is a now way. Just my opinion.

 

You don’t understand why the Lakers or Mavs would do it?

If Dallas really didn’t want Luka and they wanted to reset with a star on a rookie deal, they now have their next great white hope (funny how it always seems to be a white guy in Dallas.)

You guys keep acting like getting Luka is about this season. Lebron is 40. They had no young stars and no prospects for the future. Now they have a 26 year old superstar. The Lakers can go out and sign other players.

The owners want those fat tv deals to continue. They benefit from having a superstar in LA.

 

If the owners really care so much about fairness, why is it that Cuban is the only owner who has actively fought the league about their corrupt reffing? Have you guys seriously not seen the refs steal games or series from teams? And it’s never in the favor of the little guy. The underdog. It’s always for the mega superstar or teams like the Lakers.

 

Corrupt refs do not necessarily mean the league is behind it.

Every finals isn't won by the largest 5 media markets in the league.

 

If OKC wins the finals this year it'll be interesting to hear the new conspiracy justifications.

 

They didn’t get Flagg, but Spurs adding a talent like Bailey or Harper can’t be good for the rest of the league.