Dikembe Mutombo Tweets Premature Congratulations to 76ers for Winning No. 1 Pick

No, no, no.

Hours before the 8 p.m. ET start of Tuesday's NBA draft lottery, Hall of Fame big man Dikembe Mutombo posted a congratulatory tweet to the Philadelphia 76ers, one of his former teams, for landing the top pick.

One problem: The pingpong balls hadn't been selected yet.

Mutombo quickly deleted his message, but the damage was done.

Either the finger-wagging legend jumped the gun on crucial information (conspiracy theorists, unite!) or there could have been a misunderstanding. After all, Philly has the best chance to land the top pick at 26.9 percent.

That's how he explained the mishap:

Either way, this understandably set off a firestorm on Twitter. Even Sixers center Joel Embiid took notice:

If Mutombo's tweet comes to fruition, expect the already high number of "the draft is rigged" conspiracists to reach new levels.

Update: May 17

Yes, yes, yes.

The Sixers landed the top overall pick, with the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics earning the second and third choices.

Let the conspiracy theories roll.

---End of Update---

[Twitter]