Some NBA Executives Think David Stern Rigged Last Night's Draft Lottery to Help the Hornets Get Anthony Davis

Do you think he did?

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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The Hornets won the NBA Draft Lottery last night. And, by beating the odds (the Hornets had just a 13.7 percent chance of landing the top pick) and securing the No. 1 overall selection, they all but locked up former University of Kentucky center Anthony Davis. It's exciting news for the city of New Orleans. Even Lil Wayne, a diehard Lakers fan, was singing the team's praises on Twitter last night:

Anthony Davis to the Hornets!!?!I'm movin bak home.

But, you know who was not happy about the Hornets winning the lottery? Just about every NBA executive outside of the Crescent City. And not just because they missed out on Davis. Shortly after the lottery ended last night, Yahoo! Sports writer Adrian Wojnarowski got on the horn with a number of them and found that a lot of NBA execs around the league feel like David Stern rigged the lottery to give the top pick to the Hornets, who are technically still owned by the league.

"It's such a joke that the league made the new owners be at the lottery for the show," one anonymous executive said. "The league still owns the Hornets. Ask their front office if new owners can make a trade right now. They can't. This is a joke."

"The reaction of several league executives was part disgust, part resignation on Wednesday night," Wojnarowski wrote. "So many had predicted this happening, so many suspected that somehow, someway, the Hornets would walk away with Davis."

Hmmm...We could see NBA conspiracy theorists thinking that the draft was rigged. But, it's interesting to hear that so many guys inside the NBA feel that way, too. So, is there really a conspiracy at work here—or did the Hornets win the No. 1 pick fair and square?

One thing's for sure: The photo of Davis wearing a Hornets hat a few weeks ago shown in the thumbs above certainly doesn't help the league's case. What do you think?

RELATED: The 50 Biggest NBA Draft Day Fails

[via Yahoo! Sports]

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