Shaq suggests the NBA rigged his draft lottery

Shaquille O’Neal seems to buy the conspiracies about the NBA Draft Lottery being rigged, because he suggested it happened when he was entering the draft.

In a recent interview, Shaq weighed in on the lottery speculation, and recalled a story from when he was drafted first overall by the Orlando Magic in 1992. O’Neal seemingly suggested that commissioner David Stern might have had a hand in Orlando winning that lottery.

“I meet Mr. Stern in March,” Shaq recalled. “He says to me, ‘Hey, I know who you are, can’t wait for you to come to the NBA.’ Then he pulled me to the side. ‘You want to play where it’s cold or where it’s hot?’ He asked me that. I was like, ‘Hot.’ He smiled, and I smiled.

“A couple days later, they had the (lottery). Minnesota was No. 3, Charlotte was No. 2, then Orlando, Fl. was No. 1. I didn’t think anything about it, but you hear a lot of these conspiracy theories. There’s a lot of situations that make these things sound good and sound true.”