ESPN Announcer Reveals If NBA Draft Lottery Is 'Rigged'

The "NBA is rigged" crowd exploded on Monday night after the Dallas Mavericks won the lottery with a 1.8% chance of getting the first pick.

After trading away Luka Doncic and squeezing into the lottery by one game, the ping pong balls fell just right for Nico Harrison and Co. as they won the rights to select Duke's Cooper Flagg first overall.

That quickly led to more conspiratorial pockets of the league's fandom arguing that the event was fixed in Dallas' favor. Something that ESPN's Jay Bilas had no patience for in a conversation with Front Office Sports.

"No, I get it in the culture we live in, with all the Netflix crime stories. It's an absurd notion when you really think about it," Bilas explained. "With all the people involved and all the controls in place, and all the professionals. Not to mention, if that were rigged, that would be a federal crime. I don't think anyone involved would see the draft as being worth that sort of enterprise."

This is far from the first time fans have accused the NBA of rigging the No. 1 pick in a certain team's favor. But in nearly every case, it doesn't hold up to much scrutiny.

The Dallas Mavericks did everything in their power to not end up with a lottery ball with their late playoff push and Play-In Tournament victory over the Sacramento Kings — and even rushed Anthony Davis back to do it.