THOUGHTS | THE "RIGGED" 2025 NBA DRAFT LOTTERY

NBA.COM

Where are the codes?

As much as I want the Inside the NBA guys to stay on my screen forever, maybe it’s time for the NBA to make the draft lottery more transparent — not just in explanation, but in execution... LIVE FOR EVERYONE TO SEE.

Sure, we’ve seen the behind-the-scenes ball draws and read the official guidebook. But let’s be honest: the only reason they even showed that was because fans were stunned that a team with a 1.8% chance just happened to win the lottery, right after trading away their beloved Slovenian superstar.

Suspicious timing, right?

It reminds me of the 2014 PBA Draft Lottery. It was down to GlobalPort (now NorthPort) and Rain or Shine — or more accurately, Meralco’s pick that ROS acquired in the Ronjay Buenafe trade. Two balls. One box. And by “box,” I mean something that looked like a DIY shoebox straight out of a random fantasy league draft lottery.

It just felt... shady.

Especially since the winner got the right to draft Stanley Pringle — a player better than Kevin Alas, Ronald Pascual, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, and Chris Banchero. Pringle could’ve been a PBA MVP and part of the 50 Greatest Players list if the league had just counted that lone Philippine Cup season during the pandemic as a full one, as he was the only player by default to win the BPC award during that pandemic year.

Now, if I could somehow mix my love for Running Man with basketball?

Running Man does lotteries better than the NBA and the PBA combined. In Running Man, when someone loses a game, they get more balls added to the machine, increasing their odds of getting picked for the penalty. It’s simple. It’s fun. And most of all, it’s visible. You see the balls go in, you see the draw, and you see the reactions — joy or heartbreak — in real time.

Compare that to the NBA: even if they show you how it works, the actual moment of revelation is just someone off-cam yelling out the winner. That’s not just anticlimactic — it’s shady. That voice could be edited in after the fact. For a league that generates billions, is it really that hard to invest in a big, transparent machine with ping-pong balls and live suspense?

For something as big as the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes, shouldn’t the process be bulletproof?