It just so happens that after being on the losing end of one of the most earth-shattering trades in the history of the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks found their way to the first overall pick.

At least, that’s the leading theory among fans of the league after Dallas overcame near-impossible odds to win the NBA Draft Lottery on Monday night.

It’s been a chaotic year for the Mavericks. General manager Nico Harrison came under fire for an absolutely disastrous deal that sent franchise star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for a trade package headlined by Anthony Davis.

Now, it’s likely thanks to that terrible trade that Harrison has the chance to draft a new face-of-the-franchise in Duke freshman Cooper Flagg. 

But in order to do that, they had to overcome odds of just 1.8 percent to win the lottery. So when deputy commissioner Mark Tatum flipped the final card revealing that Dallas won the top choice, fans rushed to social media.

The topic ‘Rigged’ quickly sH๏τ up to the top of the trending topics page on X, formerly Twitter, with conspiracy theories abounding for a process that has not been immune to accusations of fixing in the past.

The Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Draft Lottery, despite only holding a 1.8 percent chance

It comes in the same year Mavs GM Nico Harrison (L) traded star Luka Doncic (R) to the Lakers

Now, the Mavericks have the chance to draft yet another generational star in Cooper Flagg

A number of NBA stars reacted to the lottery in real time with complete shock.

LeBron James tweeted out a number of laughing emojis. Meanwhile, James’ former Cavaliers teammate Kevin Love posted, ‘I mean come on man’ with similar laughs.

An incredulous Bill Simmons posted, ‘Oh get the f*** out of here. Come on.’

Podcaster and Emmy winning director Jason Gallagher posted an image of actor Brian Cox smirking with the caption, ‘The ghost of David Stern watching Adam Silver blatantly rig the lottery.’

‘It’s not hard to stop rigged lottery conspiracy theories. The NHL just did it. Bring back the ping pong balls,’ wrote The Athletic’s Chris Vannini.

The account for the Barstool Sports show Pardon My Take tweeted a picture of Harrison giving the camera a side-eye with the caption, ‘The Dallas Mavericks are picking first overall. NBA Rigged?’ 

Another Barstool personality, Jeff Lowe, posted, ‘Hahaha nobody in the world is going to ever believe the NBA Draft Lottery wasn’t rigged this year.’

‘NBA 100% rigged this draft lottery to reward Dallas for agreeing to the league-administered Luka trade. You cant make this up,’ one user suggested.

NBA players, fans, and media all were stunned and immediately lobbed accusations of rigging

Another post read, ‘Ratings were down, so the NBA gave Luka to the Lakers, and then gave the #1 pick in the NBA Draft to Dallas as compensation. Disgusting corruption. And you can’t even argue it. The odds are too low of all of this lining up the way it has. Completely rigged.’ 

‘[NBA commissioner] Adam Silver made Nico Harrison trade Luka to LA to get the NBA ratings as they were tanking, and in exchange for that they rigged the lottery so Dallas gets Cooper Flagg Nothing can convince me otherwise at this point,’ said another user.

The NBA Draft Lottery has been hit with rigging accusations ever since it was first implemented in the 1985 season.

That year, the New York Knicks won the lottery and selected future Hall-of-Famer Patrick Ewing first overall. 

Since then, a number of NBA Draft Lotteries have been subject to rumors of fixing.

James and Love tweeting out about the results is particularly notable, considering they both were at the center of allegedly rigged draft processes.

The Cavaliers won the lottery in 2003 allowing James to be selected by his hometown team. 

Then, in 2014, the Cavaliers won the lottery again despite holding only a 1.7 percent chance of winning to give Cleveland a fourth No. 1 pick in an 11 year span. 

Some theories suggest NBA commissioner Adam Silver rewarded Harrison for trading Doncic by gifting them the top pick in the draft in spite of the nearly impossible odds handed to them

After drafting Andrew Wiggins first overall, Cleveland traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Love – just a month after LeBron returned to the Cavaliers from the Miami Heat.

The Mavericks won the lottery with the fourth-lowest chance to do so. The three teams that won the lottery with lower odds were all at the center of lotteries where alleged rigging took place. The aforementioned 2014 draft lottery had the third-lowest odds.

In second place was the Chicago Bulls in 2008, when they won the lottery with a 1.7 percent chance. That year, they picked hometown kid Derrick Rose first overall.

But the winning team with the lowest odds to win the lottery in NBA history was the Orlando Magic, who only had a 1.5 percent chance of getting the top pick in the 1993 draft.

That summer, the NBA modified the system in an attempt to give lower performing teams a better sH๏τ at winning the lottery.

Instead, the Magic won the top pick just one year after winning the 1992 draft and selecting Shaquille O’Neal first overall. In 1993, the Magic drafted Chris Webber first overall, but then traded him to the Golden State Warriors for third-overall pick Penny Hardaway plus three future first-round picks.