David Stern would have immediately suspended LeBron James for tarnishing the NBA’s image.
The King of basketball opened up a conspiracy theory rabbit hole during a wide-ranging interview with The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday.
While James blasted Stephen A. Smith and took a cold shot at ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, his biggest punch was saved for the 2003 NBA Draft.
Before Wednesday’s interview, no one was sitting around contemplating whether the ’03 draft — which featured Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and James in the same loaded class — was intentionally rigged in Cleveland’s favor.
After James used his anti-ESPN attack to tease that the 2003 draft was intentionally tilted toward his hometown Cavaliers, NBA fans won’t be able to forget James’ fascinating comments.
“Listen man, during the ball drop, during the lottery drop, Cleveland got the No. 1 pick,” James said.
“That’s — I just don’t think that was, ‘What a coincidence, huh?’ ”
“Let’s keep LeBron home. You know what? Patrick Ewing to the (New York) Knicks, Derrick Rose to the (Chicago) Bulls.
“I understand the assignment, guys.”
NBA fans couldn’t believe James’ transparency, joking that former commissioner Stern would have severely punished The King for fueling massive conspiracies.
“David Stern would’ve put a hit out on Bron if he was still commissioner,” one fan tweeted.
“HAHAHAAH bro turned into post-retirement Bron already,” a second fan wrote.
GettyThe NBA would have looked much different with The King in Cleveland[/caption]
“Wemby to the Spurs too lol. Doubt (Cooper) Flagg goes to Charlotte or Washington either…,” a third fan posted.
“So this confirms the 2016 Finals was a stimulus package,” a fourth fan said.
NBA fans have long theorized that Ewing going to the Knicks with the No. 1 pick in 1985 was rigged.
Rose, who was born in Chicago, joined the Bulls with the draft’s top pick in 2008.
But the Akron-born James being secretly pushed to the Cavaliers in Cleveland would completely change the history of the NBA.
The fact that the league’s all-time leading scorer revealed the ‘truth’ live on air sent shockwaves across the league.
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Yet James wasn’t the first NBA superstar to suggest the league is rigged.
The NBA was just beginning to rise in the early 1980s after a dark period.
With a growing rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers’ Magic Johnson and the Boston Celtics‘ Larry Bird, one of the best players in history asserted that the NBA was titled in the Lakers’ favor to push for an extended Finals.
“Stern told a fan that the NBA needed a seven-game series, that the league needed the money,” Bird said in 1984. “When the commissioner makes a statement like that to a fan, you know it’s going to be tough.”
The eventual Hall of Famer, 12-time All-Star and three-time NBA MVP doubled down on his theory that Game 6 was rigged to force a TV-friendly Game 7.
“When Stern makes a statement like that, things are going to happen,” Bird said. “You just don’t make statements like that and expect anything out of it. He’s the commissioner and he shouldn’t be saying anything like that.
“The NBA wanted a seventh game because they wanted to make more money and they got their wish.”
Maybe Bird was ahead of the curve in 1984, and James is just telling the truth more than 40 years later.
But despite Bird’s strong comments and James’ suggestions — joking or not — that the NBA was rigged, there’s never been any concrete proof that the draft has intentionally favored certain teams.
Either way, get ready to hear about the 2003 draft being rigged to push James to Cleveland for as long as the NBA exists.
