- The Hornets winning the 2012 Draft Lottery led to suggestions it might have been rigged
- The team was owned by the NBA at the time and was up for sale
- David Stern had a brutal response when he was asked if the lottery was rigged
The New Orleans Hornets winning the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery sparked a lot of controversy back in the day. There was a notion that it had been rigged by the NBA, and then-Commissioner David Stern didn’t take kindly to it. Stern was asked by Jim Rome whether it had been rigged, and he responded quite strongly.
“I have two answers for that,” Stern said. “I’ll give you the easy one — no — and a statement: Shame on you for asking.”
When Rome suggested it was a fair question to ask, Stern responded with a loaded question.
“Have you stopped beating your wife yet?” Stern asked.
I should make it clear first that Rome was never accused of beating his wife. This was just Stern’s way of responding to what he felt was a loaded question from Rome, although it really wasn’t. Just simply saying it was not rigged, answered that question.
For the wife-beating question, though, there was no correct way for Rome to answer it. Saying yes would indicate he hit his wife before, and saying no would mean he is still hitting his wife.
Rome understandably didn’t give an answer, as he felt the question wasn’t fair.
The 2012 NBA Draft Lottery
A big prize awaited the winner of the 2012 NBA Draft Lottery, the opportunity to draft Anthony Davis.
It wasn’t really one that the New Orleans Hornets were clear favorites for, as they had the fourth-best chance to win the lottery at 13.70%. They were tied for the third-worst record in the league in the 2011-12 season at 21-45 with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had a 13.80% chance at the top pick.
The Charlotte Bobcats were at the top with a 25% chance, while the Washington Wizards were at 19.90%, but the Hornets leapfrogged them all to get the top pick.
The Controversy Surrounding The Lottery
While a team climbing up a few spots was never out of the ordinary, the circumstances surrounding this one led to talk of it being rigged.
The NBA had purchased the Hornets for $300 million in 2010 and were intending to sell it to a local owner. They found a buyer in Tom Benson, who paid $338 million in April 2012, a couple of months prior to the lottery.
The notion was that adding a prospect like Davis would make the Hornets a very attractive team for potential buyers, as they had traded away Chris Paul in 2011.
The league promising Benson that they would get the top pick would make him match the valuation the NBA had for the team, was the idea being floated around. Stern, of course completely denied it, which was to be expected.
Davis would go on to become a superstar in the NBA and certainly helped the Hornets/Pelicans stay relevant for quite some time.
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