The tin-foil hat crowd is having a field day after the New Orleans Hornets won the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery and the right to draft Kentucky center Anthony Davis with the first overall pick in this year's draft.
The conspiracy theorists that claim every lottery is fixed are pointing to the fact that the league is in the process of selling the Hornets to New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson. A wink-and-nod agreement to send Anthony Davis to NOLA would have helped to close that deal, no?
No.
First off, the Hornets had a pretty good chance of landing the top pick anyway - a 13.7 percent chance, to be specific - the fourth-best odds of winning the top spot. And while the actual drawing isn't shown to the public, it is monitored by a top accounting firm and representatives from the press. The Charlotte Bobcats had the best chance of winning... but "best" in this situation is just a one-in-four shot.
The Bobcats dropped to the second overall spot, and the Washington Wizards will pick third.
The biggest loser was the Nets. Because their pick landed outside the top three, it will go to Portland to complete the Gerald Wallace trade. That will leave Billy King with very little ammunition as he attempts to trade for Dwight Howard and re-sign Deron Williams. And that could leave the Nets with an expansion-level roster as they open their new arena in Brooklyn.
- 2012 NBA Draft Lottery Results.
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