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Par Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Journaliste sportif
Following the awarding of the first pick of the 2025 Draft to the Mavericks, many NBA fans and personalities suspect a scheme by the league. And according to one former star, Victor Wembanyama may have been the subject of such a scheme.
Regardless of the discipline or league involved, conspiracy theories are all the rage in the world of top-level sport. The NBA is no exception, and even less so in recent days. It has to be said that the Mavericks’ improbable stroke of luck at the Draft Lottery has given rise to a number of suspicions, including among LeBron James and other influential figures in the game.
Victor Wembanyama also at the heart of NBA rigging?
Just a few months after sending Luka Doncic to the Lakers, Dallas inherited the 1st pick in the draft. A coincidence that, according to many fans, is no coincidence at all, who are convinced that it’s a trick orchestrated in the upper echelons of the NBA. Shaquille O’Neal recently lent credence to this view with a disturbing revelation, as did Gilbert Arenas in the latest episode of his Gil’s Arena:
Gilbert Arenas: Apart from the Brooklyn case, most new owners who buy NBA franchises get the #1 pick within two years. It happened in Dallas and it could happen in Boston. Knowing that Jayson Tatum is already expected to miss next season, imagine if Jaylen Brown also forfeited and the Celtics started playing poorly…
For Arenas, the fact that the Mavs got the next 1st pick would therefore be linked to the recent buyout of the franchise by the Adelson family and Patrick Dumont. It would be a common gesture of thanks from the league to its new owners. And according to the former point guard, such machinations can also be carried out in order to place top prospects in the best possible conditions.
Arenas goes on to talk about the 2023 Draft, during which he claims Victor Wembanyama was knowingly placed in San Antonio:
Gilbert Arenas: Not every team deserves to get the #1 pick in the eyes of the league. Did you really think Wemby would end up in Charlotte or Detroit? No no, he ended up exactly where he was supposed to land: with a team that knows how to take care of the interiors chosen at the top of the draft. (…) The league said, “Send him under Coach Pop!”
The doubts surrounding Wemby’s reunion with Spurs are actually nothing new. Other big names in the game have already raised questions on the subject, without managing to get everyone to agree. As for Arenas, he seems to have made up his mind.
