The New Orleans Hornets Lottery Win and the 5 Biggest NBA Conspiracy Theories

David Stern has turned many heads throughout his tenure as commissioner of the NBA. Some of his actions can be viewed as attempts to accumulate more money, even though they may disrupt the reality of the game.

While there is little proof, there is even less doubt that something is going on behind the closed curtain that is the NBA front office. 

As of late, conspiracy theorists have been having a field day. With the NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets winning the lottery, suspicion has multiplied.

With all that is going on, let's take a look at the other suspicious actions that David Stern and the NBA have been accused of.

1985 Draft Lottery

Prior to 1985, the team that finished with the league's worst record would obtain the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

However, the NBA draft lottery was introduced in 1985, the year the Golden State Warriors finished last and Georgetown's Patrick Ewing was expected to go first.

The draft would work such that the logos of the 16 teams that finished at the bottom of the league would be placed on envelopes.

The envelopes are placed into a tumbler, and after the envelopes are mixed up, David Stern reaches in and chooses one, the team's logo that appears receives the first pick. 

It is the first year of this brand-new system. The envelopes are being placed into the giant tumbler when it appears the corners of two envelopes are bent when being placed in, while the rest of the envelopes are placed gently.

After six spins, Stern reaches in and immediately picks up an envelope with bent edges. The logo belongs to the New York Knicks, the team with the largest market and the third-worst record in the league. The Knicks unsurprisingly took Ewing with the selection.

Did David Stern rig the lottery so that the New York's basketball team could be revived? Did he want to keep Ewing from being stuck in San Francisco? Its possible.

2002 Western Conference Finals Game 6

The 2002 Western Conference finals featured the big-market Lakers of Los Angeles against the small-market Kings of Sacramento.

Heading into Game 6, the Kings held a 3-2 lead over the Lakers.

The Lakers won the game by four points, as the game went down has the worst refereed game in NBA history.

There were several horrific whistles blown during the game that swung in favor of the Lakers.

ESPN's David Aldridge was quoted saying:

"

"There is nothing I can say that will explain 27 free throws for the Lakers in the fourth quarter—an amount staggering in its volume and impact on the game. It gave me pause.

How can you explain it? How can you explain a game where Scot Pollard fouls out when he's two feet from Shaquille O'Neal, or that Doug Christies is called for a ridiculous touch foul just as Chris Webber spikes Bryant's drive to the hoop, or that Mike Bibby is called for a foul deep in the fourth quarter after Bryant pops him in the nose with an elbow?"

"

The Lakers went on to win Game 7 as well, and eventually the Championship. Since then, former referee Tim Donaghy alleged that Game 6 was fixed.

David Stern has denied all such allegations. It was determined that there was not enough evidence for any convictions.

Kyrie, the Savior

In 2003, the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers were blessed to win the draft lottery.

Coincidentally, that year the best high school prospect of all-time (LeBron James) was in the pool, and he just happened to be from Akron, Ohio.

LeBron James turned around Cleveland basketball, putting the Cavs on the map and leading them to the NBA Finals just four years later. 

In the summer of 2010, LeBron decided to ditch Cleveland and head for the temptations of Miami. Leaving Cleveland as he found it, in rubble, all hope was lost in Cleveland.

In 2011, the Cavs had just a 1.7 percent chance to win the NBA draft lottery, and they did. 

The year right after one of the best players of all-time leaves, the Cavaliers land the No. 1 pick in the draft. The Cavs use the selection to take Kyrie Irving, the young prospect from Duke who was the clear-cut choice for Rookie of the Year.

Michael Jordan Plays Ball—Baseball, That Is

Michael Jordan is the NBA's most valuable player of all-time.

And when I say valuable, I literally mean valuable.

Jordan had generated approximately $10 billion impact on the U.S. economy up until 1998, according to Fortune (h/t findarticle.com). He was and still is a goldmine for NBA marketing.

It would only make sense that David Stern would do all he could to preserve Jordan and make his value last as long as possible.

During the height of his career, Jordan decided to retire in order to play baseball. While many believe his retirement had something to do with his father's murder that year, the timing seemed too convenient.

Jordan leaves and his gambling investigation gets swept under the rug. Two years later, Jordan returns and wins three more championships with the Bulls.

New Orleans Hornets Win 2012 Lottery

Suspicious activity regarding the Hornets started way before the 2012 draft lottery.

The Hornets were the only NBA-owned team at last year.

During December, the Hornets agreed to a trade that would send Chris Paul and company to the Lakers. But for some reason, David Stern did not allow the trade to go through.

Just four days later, the Clippers proposed a more enticing trade to land Chris Paul, and thus the Hornets got rid of Paul for a higher value than they would have had they done the deal with the Lakers. 

So in comes Tom Benson. Already the owner of the local Saints, Benson decides to purchase a team that just lost its superstar and ranks toward the bottom of the league in attendance.

Seems like a poor investment. Unless there was some incentive to make the purchase. Perhaps David Stern says, "If you buy the team, I'll guarantee you get the No. 1 pick."

While this may just be a mere coincidence where the Hornets simply got lucky, it didn't help that the ping-pong balls aren't shown when being selected, and it certainly didn't help that Anthony Davis was seen wearing a Hornets snap-back prior to the lottery taking place.

What do you think?

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