Shaquille O’Neal adds fuel to the NBA Draft Lottery Conspiracy Theories with David Stern Story
Shaquille O’Neal offered another layer to conspiracies concerning the legitimacy of the Lottery of the NBA draft. O’Neal, which the Orlando Magic has selected with the overall choice n ° 1 of the NBA 1992 draft, recently raised the eyebrows when he shared the details of a conversion between himself and the commissioner of the NBA, David Stern, who occurred three months before the draft of this year.
“”[Stern] Tell me, “Hey, I can’t wait for you to come to the NBA,” said O’Neal on the podcast of Ashley Nevel. Then he removed me to the side. “Do you want to play where it’s cold or where it’s hot?” He asked me that. Yeah, he did it. He asked me that. And I said to myself, “hot”. And he smiles, and I smiled. “”
O’Neal finally obtained his wish, when Orlando won this year’s lottery with Charlotte and Minnesota obtaining the second and third choice, respectively.
Although there was not much thought at the time, O’Neal is now somewhat skeptical about the NBA lottery and some of its results over the years.
“You hear a lot of these conspiracy theories, and there are many situations that could make these things good and sound real,” said O’Neal before referring to the Dallas Mavericks in victory for this year’s lottery after receiving a ton of warmth from their fans after the regular commercial superstar season.
“It is very interesting to see how it all happened,” said O’Neal about the Mavericks winning this year’s lottery months after exchanging Davis.
By far, the greatest controversy concerning the lottery is that the New York Knicks get the n ° 1 choice in the 1985 draft. With the choice, the Knicks selected the Patrick Ewing center, which has had a career at the renowned temple in New York. Ewing led the Knicks to the 1994 NBA final, but New York fell to the Houston Rockets in seven games. The Knicks have never won a title with Ewing, but they have a chance to take their 26 -year -old drought without an appearance in the NBA final if they can overcome his historic Indiana rival during the finals of the eastern conference this year.
Speaking of O’Neal, he was the beneficiary of another controversial moment in the history of the NBA, when his 2002 Lakers defeated the Kings of Sacramento during the finals of the Western Conference. The Lakers received several favorable calls during the series, in particular in the sixth game, a victory for four points from Los Angeles who forced a seven match that O’Neal and Co. would finally gain on their way to their third consecutive triumph of the NBA final.
Regarding the conversation of pre-project of O’Neal with Stern, it is a shame that Stern cannot share his side of history (he died in 2020). It is quite possible that Stern simply speaks with O’Neal, who is known to embellish stories.
If his goal was to generate titles, O’Neal certainly did. In the process, the center of the fame of fame has sparked another wave of questions and conversations concerning the NBA and its process of process.
