Date: February 19, 2026
The ping-pong balls have barely stopped bouncing, and the NBA is already engulfed in its favorite postseason tradition: screaming conspiracy.
Less than 24 hours after the Dallas Mavericks defied the odds at the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery to secure the No. 1 overall pick—and the rights to Duke phenomenon Cooper Flagg—accusations are flying from the highest levels of the league.
According to a bombshell report from award-winning journalist Pablo Torre, the skepticism isn’t limited to angry fans on Twitter. Torre reports that two anonymous NBA owners have privately stated their belief that the lottery process was “obviously fixed” to ensure the Mavericks landed the generational superstar.
This isn’t just sour grapes over losing a coin flip. This is a massive accusation that suggests the league office actively intervened to create the most terrifying duo in modern basketball history.
The Bombshell Report
Pablo Torre, known for his deep-dive reporting and connections across the sports business landscape, dropped the report shortly after Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum revealed the giant envelope with the Mavericks logo inside.
While NBA lottery conspiracy theories are as old as the lottery itself (we’ll get to Patrick Ewing in a moment), it is incredibly rare for actual team owners to voice these opinions to journalists, even anonymously.
The sentiment among these owners, according to Torre’s reporting, stems from a belief that the NBA was desperate to revitalize the Dallas market and, more importantly, appease superstar Luka Dončić after a disastrous 2025-26 campaign. The theory posits that the league could not afford for Luka to wallow in mediocrity and potentially demand a trade, so they gifted him the best prospect since Victor Wembanyama.
The Context: How Did Dallas Get Here?
To understand the fury of the other owners, you have to understand the context of the Mavericks’ season.
Entering the 2025-26 season, Dallas was expected to be a contender. Instead, it was a nightmare. Dončić struggled with nagging injuries that sidelined him for 30+ games. The supporting cast crumbled. The team plummeted down the standings, finishing with the 7th worst record in the league.
Going into Tuesday night’s lottery, the Mavericks had just a 7.5% chance of landing the #1 pick.
Teams like the Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons, who spent the entire season aggressively tanking, had significantly higher odds (14% each). Yet, when the sealed envelopes were opened, those teams fell, and Dallas leaped up to grab the golden ticket.
The Prize: Cooper Flagg
Why are owners so mad? Because Cooper Flagg isn’t just a normal #1 pick.
After a dominant freshman season at Duke, where he showcased an all-around game that scouts described as “Kirilenko’s defense mixed with Tatum’s offense,” Flagg is considered a franchise-altering cornerstone.
The thought of pairing the 6’9″ athletic marvel, who can defend 1-through-5 and score from anywhere, with the offensive wizardry of Luka Dončić is a nightmare scenario for the other 29 teams. It immediately reopens Dallas’s championship window for the next decade.
If you are a rival owner who just sat through an 82-game tanking season, watching Dallas fail upwards into a dynasty is enough to make you question the integrity of the ping-pong machine.
A History of Frozen Envelopes
The NBA hates these stories, but they bring them upon themselves with the secretive nature of the lottery drawing (which happens in a secure room before the TV broadcast).
The accusation fits comfortably into the pantheon of NBA lottery conspiracies:
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1985: The “Frozen Envelope” theory, suggesting the envelope containing Patrick Ewing’s Knicks was kept cold so David Stern would know which one to grab.
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2003: The league supposedly ensuring hometown hero LeBron James went to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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2008: The Chicago Bulls, with only a 1.7% chance, jumping up to grab hometown star Derrick Rose.
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2012: The league allegedly gifting the then-league-owned New Orleans Hornets Anthony Davis to make the franchise attractive to buyers.
The narrative always follows the same track: The league rigs the outcome for the best possible TV ratings and business storyline. Luka + Flagg is undeniably the best business storyline.
What Happens Now?
The NBA will vehemently deny these allegations. They release tapes of the actual drawing process (which is audited by an accounting firm) to prove its legitimacy.
But the damage, in terms of perception among power brokers, appears to be done. If Torre’s report is accurate, there are people writing checks to the league office who believe the game is rigged against them.
For Mavericks fans, they don’t care how the sausage was made. They just know that come October, they get to watch the Luka and Cooper show. For the rest of the NBA owners, they are left with a sinking feeling that they never actually stood a chance.
