Dwyane Wade casts doubt on legitimacy of NBA Draft Lottery amid rigging speculation: 'It's a business'

The Dallas Mavericks have officially won the draft lottery, and have the rights to draft Cooper Flagg with the first overall pick. Nick Wright disputes the claim that the lottery is rigged.

The cries of a rigged NBA Draft Lottery are loud and clear once again.

The Dallas Mavericks, with a 1.8% chance of earning the top pick months after trading away star Luka Doncic, came away with the right to draft Duke's Cooper Flagg.

This, of course, is not the first time there have been suspicions: There's the frozen envelope theory from 1985 for the New York Knicks to get Patrick Ewing; the Cleveland Cavaliers got the No. 1 pick when the top prospect was a local kid named LeBron James (same with the Chicago Bulls and Derrick Rose in 2008); and many believe the San Antonio Spurs were gifted Victor Wembanyama in 2023.

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Dwyane Wade looks on at halftime during the men’s basketball quarterfinal game between France and Canada at the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Accor Arena. (Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)

Well, Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade didn't exactly shut down any ongoing speculation.

"It's a business," he said in a recent interview. 

Wade, of course, would not go out and say it is for sure rigged, "because I'm not a witness in it."

"But this is a business that we are a part of. And I think people forget that in the competition of sports and what we love, because we grow up playing sports, and it's not a business when we grow up. But when you're in the NBA, it's a business. And the business has to do its best job to make sure that, you know, it's taken care of," he said.

The Dallas Mavericks reportedly plan to select Duke's Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.