The Biggest NBA Conspiracy Theories
Vote up the NBA conspiracy theories most likely to be true.
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A longstanding theory in NBA circles is that Tim Donaghy wasn't a lone wolf. He was the scapegoat of a larger operation that existed before the internet and before fans could go crazy shining a light over bad calls in a whole new way. According to Donaghy himself, basically all refs gamble on the game. Although he claims he never consciously affected games with his officiating, it's a clear violation of the league’s rules and could easily subconsciously manipulate a game's outcome.
A more tongue-in-cheek theory is that Scott Foster colluded with CP3 to rig games under the guise he hated CP3. Thus, Foster always ensured a CP3 loss, so that a mutual third party could bet and win money on the games while everyone got a cut.
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- Toronto Raptors
233 VOTESFor about an eight year stretch Serge Ibaka was one of the top big men in the NBA. Ibaka was a fierce interior defender with a silky baseline jumper. Then one day suddenly around age 30, Ibaka slowed down considerably and seemed to lose the ability to keep up anymore. People seem to think it's because Ibaka is actually in his 40s and not his thirties. Because in fact, in recent years in the NBA, it's become quite commonplace for stars to play into their mid-to-late thirties. While falsifying dates of birth has happened in pro sports before, with talented prospects coming from third world countries to American sports leagues (see Miguel Tejada or Danny Almonte in baseball), it's less familiar in the NBA. However, the timing of Ibaka's ascent on the global basketball stage from the Congo to the NBA leaves open the possibility the Center may not be who he seems.
According to “official documents,” Ibaka was born in 1989 in the People's Republic of the Congo. However, many are led to believe Ibaka was actually born in 1982 - 7 years earlier. What lends credence to this theory is the timing of the Second Congo War, which started in 1998 and persisted until 2003. The War saw Ibaka's mother's untimely death and his father's imprisonment as a political prisoner. This obviously restricted a lot of the Ibaka family's movement for a period of five years and likely kept him from being in positions of advancement and improvement. That five year period likely makes all the difference in the year Ibaka claims.
Now, were Ibaka's age true, he would've been 9 at the start of the war and 14 by the end of it. Only three years later, Ibaka went on to play for his first professional team, despite missing what was likely five straight years of crucial training and developing skill because of the war. It's not implausible but it's not a perfect trajectory either. Those three years could've included a growth spurt and a preternatural ascent. Ibaka joins his first pro team at 17 and he becomes a league All Star in his first season.Then he makes the leap to Europe at 18, where he's noted to be "athletically off the charts." This leads the NBA's OKC Thunder to draft Ibaka and bring him over to the NBA at age 20. He plays 8 good/great years in OKC. 1 meh year in Orlando. Followed by 3 rapidly declining years in Toronto, at which point he's 30 and can hardly move. Thus, he shifts into a towel waving bench role player for the last 3 years of his career and looks a shell of himself in the process. In this scenario, Ibaka peaks from 2012-2014, ages 23-25, which is pretty young for an NBA peak.
However, picture this alternate scenario, if Ibaka was born in 1982. The war comes around in 1998, when Ibaka turns 16. He misses five crucial years of training and development due the war and his family's persona non grata status. When war ends he's 21. He can finally start training again and by the time he's 24, he gets his chance with his first pro team where he becomes a league all star in his first season. Then he leaps to Europe a year later at age 25, where he's noted to be “athletically off the charts” for someone his suspected age (18). This leads the NBA's OKC Thunder to draft Ibaka and bring him over to the NBA at what they think is age 20, but is actually age 27. Ibaka peaks from 2012-2014, when he's actually aged 30-32. Which is about right for an NBA peak. He has two more good seasons in OKC, and by the time he's 34, he heads to Orlando where he goes through a down year. From ages 35-38, he plays in Toronto, getting worse and less capable each year. Then, he spends the next 3 years into his 40s like a towel waving shell of himself on the bench, basically identical to Udonis Haslem.
What do you think is more likely?
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In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs hosted the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals and the air conditioner malfunctioned inside the AT&T Center.At one point, ABC’s telecast showed temperatures inside the arena had exceeded 90 degrees. James wore a microphone throughout the game and was recorded saying, “I’m going to need some colder water now, they are trying to smoke us out of here,” during a team huddle. The water did not work for James, as he infamously got severe cramps late in the fourth quarter and had to sit out the final four minutes of the game. The Spurs very conveniently finished the game on a 31-9 run including a 16-3 stretch after James sat down en route to a Game 1 win.
The Spurs issued a statement apologizing for the malfunction: "An electrical failure for the power that runs the AC system in the AT&T Center has occurred," the statement read. “We are continuing to work on resolving the problem. We apologize for any inconvenience.” The Spurs went on to win the series in five games to claim the franchise’s fifth NBA championship.
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Is it possible Michael Jordan was actually suspended from the NBA for gambling-related reasons, and he didn't voluntarily walk away from basketball before the 1993-94 season to play baseball? What if MJ had been found out publicly to have bet on NBA games? Would David Stern have had to give him a lifetime ban like the MLB did with Pete Rose? In the wake of the Bulls' first three-peat, when MJ's superstardom was at an impossible level, could the league realistically ban their biggest asset?
During the Bulls' 1993 NBA playoffs, Jordan was seen gambling in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the night before Game 2 against the New York Knicks during the Eastern Conference Finals. The previous year, he admitted that he had to cover $57,000 in gambling losses, and author Richard Esquinas wrote a book in 1993 claiming he had won $1.25 million from Jordan on the golf course. David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, denied in 1995 and 2006 that Jordan's 1993 retirement was a secret suspension by the league for gambling, but the rumor persists. Some people even claim Jordan was in too deep with the mob.
When Michael Jordan retired in order to pursue baseball, the initial claim was that he burned out following endless years of basketball with the Bulls and the Dream Team. Coupled with the shocking death of his father, the timing of Jordan's move made some sense, but then came the quote straight out of MJ's mouth, “Five years down the road, if the urge comes back, if the Bulls will have me, if David Stern lets me back in the league, I may come back.”
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- Milwaukee Bucks
581 VOTESErsan Ilyasova was a pretty average NBA journeyman in his day, and maybe isn't well-known in the NBA world anymore, but the Turkish big man carved out a nice career in the league, primarily as a weapon off the bench, spreading the floor with his long-range shooting ability.. There's nothing super fascinating that ever happened in Ilyasova's career. He never won a title, never garnered awards recognition, and he averaged a career 10 points and 5 rebounds, which makes the crazy story of his true identity really quite niche but still kinda interesting.
Ilyasova's official birthday of May 15th, 1987, is allegedly fake. Ersan was actually born in 1984, making him three years older than his listed age. But that's the least crazy part. The theory is that Ersan Ilyasova is actually a person named Arsen Ilyasov, born in Uzbekistan. In 2002, due to ongoing political tensions, armed violence and an attempted government overthrow, Arsen crossed the border into Turkey at 18 years old, to get away from the instability. But then he went missing and never showed up again. All the documents about Arsen Ilyasov simply vanished. Soon after, a man would go to the Turkish authorities and say he forgot to register his 15-year old son when he was born. The boy turned out to be Ersan Ilyasova. There was no previous documentation of him, but Ersan was officially registered with no questions asked. They lowered his age so Ilyasova could compete with younger age groups on the national team. Eventually the Uzbekistan Basketball Association filed a complaint with FIBA, saying Ersan can't play for the Turkish national team due to the fact he is actually an Uzbek. FIBA rejected the claim though due to the shortage of evidence.
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- Frank Isola
The NBA draft lottery has inspired quite a few conspiracy theories, none more famous than the Patric Ewing sweepstakes in 1985. Supposedly, the NBA wanted its biggest market to get the No. 1 pick in the unweighted lottery so Patrick Ewing could go play for the New York Knicks. As a result, the NBA and Stern are said to have fixed the selection process, which consisted of drawing envelopes out of a large bowl.
The two prevailing theories are as follows. One, the envelope containing the New York logo was frozen so that Stern could easily recognize which one it was because it was cold. Two, the same envelope had a folded corner so that Stern could feel which one it was. Video of the proceedings is all over YouTube, so feel free to sleuth for yourself!
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In the third quarter of Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, Paul Pierce needed a wheelchair to be escorted off the court after taking a hard fall during the game. Everyone thought the worst might've happened as “The Truth” went to the locker room in near tears. Shockingly, Pierce returned to the court moments later, much to the surprise of Boston Celtics fans. From there, conspiracy theories swirled like mad. Did Pierce fake an injury? Was he really hurt? That's not like Pierce. Then leaked a leak of possible leakage of the bodily fluid varietal, and the idea that Pierce got into the wheelchair to hide a potential brown stain on the seat of his white shorts, which sounded too logical to be false.
But in 2019 Pierce finally clarified what happened. “Something went down,” he said. “I had to go to the bathroom.” It was assumed by many that he implied he had a poop-related accident on the court, but now he’s alleged that his undies were stain-free that game.
In an interview Pierce questioned why he would get into a wheelchair if he went number-two mid-game. "If you poop your pants, does it make sense to sit down and mush it in a wheelchair?" said Pierce. "I would walk back there and go straight to the bathroom. Why would I need a wheelchair if I pooped my pants? You don’t sit down on your poop, right? It doesn’t make sense."
He’s not wrong, it would exacerbate his issue if he were to pancake any accidental doo-dee. Even if he did soil himself, Pierce helped lead the Celtics to the Game 1 victory. He was also named Finals MVP after after leading the team to a championship, and was named an NBA Hall of Famer earlier this year. Skeptics will say it's false, but it's up to you to decide what to believe.
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- Philadelphia 76ers
829 VOTESNBA Owners Conspired To Sack Sam Hinkie For Making The League Look Bad
Sam Hinkie served as the General Manager of the Philadelphia 76ers from 2013-2016. Hinkie's tenure with the 76ers is noted for his strategy to rebuild the team by trading away their most valuable players in exchange for high picks in the NBA draft. As a result, the team was extremely uncompetitive and lost historic amounts of games. This led to accusations of Philadelphia intentionally throwing games, which eventually led to Hinkie “resigning” from his position. However, Hinkie's strategy became prevalent with fans, who nicknamed it “The Process,” and is credited with helping transform the 76ers into postseason contenders following Hinkie's departure.
But, the way Hinkie went about his business around the league was brash and rubbed league owners the wrong way. He spurned traditional conventions and acted like a VC on a buy, strip, and flip operation. All the while, Hinkie was actually devaluing the worth of NBA games by routinely placing uncompetitive squads on the court, thereby decreasing Philly's overall revenue and what they could contribute to the league's profit share program. Now, if this had happened in a small market like Orlando or Portland or New Orleans, league owners might not have cared, but given Philly is one of sport's biggest markets, they couldn't stand Hinkie throwing away money on his MIT-esque radical stat-nerd experiment. At this point, the rest of the league put pressure on 76ers owner Joshua Harris to sack Hinkie and clean up the mess he'd made.
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In 2013, Rudy Gay said his vision was so bad he could barely get his driver's license and that allegedly for years it was affecting his play on the court (i.e. seeing the rim). Gay had offseason Lasik eye surgery to help correct his vision, because he refused to wear the contact lenses he desperately needed. After surgery, Gay had two of his career highest field goal percentage seasons and two of his career highest free throw shooting percentage seasons, before his numbers tailed off at the end of his career.
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- Houston Rockets
1057 VOTESThis is actually a hilarious theory. Apparently Ryan Anderson had off shooting nights so frequently in predominantly red-heavy arenas (Bulls, Hawks, Rockets) due to being colorblind. Supposedly there is a link between color and depth perception, and Anderson's struggles are a result of his depth perception being skewed as he perceives the basket is closer than it really is in red-dominant arenas. Depth cues like the red padding behind the basket and lines distort his depth perception and thus affect his ability to accurately gauge the distance between himself and the basket. Looking at the shooting splits from his career, there is some evidence to back up the idea, but also weighed in is the fact that Anderson played for the Rockets and spent a high volume of games in red-heavy arenas.
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- Vancouver Grizzlies
In 1995, the NBA expanded the league outside of America, and into Canada. The two cities they chose were Toronto and Vancouver, two of the most populated cities in Canada. The former got the Raptors, with the latter receiving the Grizzlies. While both franchises started off really bad, losing a lot of games, the Raptors were always a step ahead of the Grizzlies when it came to the basketball influence in their area. In their first season as an official NBA team, the Raptors were third in the league in attendance, while the Grizzlies were 14th, according to ESPN. But as the years went by, the Raptors quickly gained a ton of popularity, mainly because of Vinsanity. The Grizzlies never got their Vinsanity. After just six seasons in Vancouver, the team was forced to relocate to Memphis.
So what went down? It was a combination of different factors. The biggest reason was that the team was losing a lot and did not have a legitimate franchise player. The best player was Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who averaged over 20 points a game for a couple of seasons there. He was a pretty versatile power forward, who’s been forgotten over the years. However, he wasn’t helping them win games. Winning games means increased ticket sales means increased revenues. So attendance was dropping. Then there was owner John McCaw Jr. who didn't like how high the operating costs were, against the weak Canadian dollar, so it just wasn’t profitable for him to own a team in that area. Also, the fact that McCaw was based on Seattle, did not help his situation. A lot of local businesses in Vancouver did not care to support the Grizzlies because it wasn’t owned by someone local.
With low revenue, no All Stars, no attraction for free agents, and constant losing, the NBA basically gave up on basketball in Vancouver and stopped promoting the team, which spurred the move to Memphis. It was a colossal misstep by the league putting a team there in the first place without a clear plan, exhibiting an extreme lack of sound research practices and negligence for due diligence. The only way for the NBA to “hide” their mistake was simply to press the reset button.
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1270 VOTESIn 2011, after countless trade rumors involving CP3, the Hornets point guard was shipped off to the Los Angeles Lakers in a three-team trade, but then he suddenly wasn't. David Stern and the league stepped in after the press releases were already drafted and decided the deal wasn't good enough for the New Orleans Hornets and vetoed the trade. Paul was subsequently shipped off to Los Angeles, but this time to the Clippers.
This do-over for GM Dell Demps and the Hornets, who were owned by the NBA at the time, sparked quite a few conspiracy theories out there concerning the inexplicable motives shown by the commissioner's actions. In essence Stern nixed the chance at a new potential Lakers dynasty. LA had won back-to-back titles in ‘09 and ’10, so after an off year, the chance for them to re-stack the deck with a CP3, Kobe, Pau big three would've been tough to beat.
However, Stern's actions felt personal. Displeasure over the 2003 Kobe rape allegations, which settled out of court, and Kobe's ongoing feud with charming face of the league Shaquille O'Neal for nearly a decade, easily could've weighed in the back of Stern's mind. The moment remains a controversial, intertwined chapter in the histories of both L.A. franchises and the league.
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1359 VOTESThe 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals featured an epic by LeBron James and the East-favorite Cleveland Cavaliers. We watched as LeBron shot a combined .340 from the field in the final three games. We scratched our heads as he moved indifferently around the court at half-speed during the most critical moments of the season.
It was later rumored that Delonte West had been dating Gloria James (LeBron's mom), something which James was apparently not fond of. As per sources, Delonte was sleeping with Gloria – which James found out before Game 4 (2010 Eastern Conference semifinal), hampering the team's chemistry. This seemed to explain LeBron's statistical deterioration. As LeBron fell, so did the Cavaliers. The degeneration of team chemistry was equally anomalous and surprising. Like something out of a Greek tragedy.
While West denied the rumours, he was traded to the Boston Celtics in the offseason. Some reports spoke about James orchestrating the deal, wanting to send West out of the Cavaliers, although at that point for the Cavs, LeBron was already on his way to Miami.
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- Phoenix Suns
1438 VOTESFixed Playoff Series?
In the middle of David Stern's tenure as NBA commissioner, Stern oversaw NBA basketball's tremendous growth into one of the world's most popular sports during the 1990s and 2000s. However, en route to the moon, Stern lost a handle on the league at times, especially when it comes to referee oversight. In the early 00s, NBA playoff refereeing grew out of control, culminating in the Tim Donaghy scandal. Which gave way to numerous rumors of fixed NBA playoff series over the years.
The 2000 Blazers-Lakers WCF Game 7. 2001 Bucks-Sixers. 2002 Kings-Lakers. 2006 Mavericks-Heat NBA Finals. 2007 Suns-Spurs. The list goes on. A bevy of playoff series decided under extremely questionable circumstances. D-Wade shot 100 free throws. Rasheed Wallace got ejected. Robert Horry dumptrucked Steve Nash into the scorer's table and A'mare Stoudemire got suspended! The NBA playoffs often seem stranger than fiction, which for decades has lent credence to the possibility that NBA playoff series have been fixed in the past.
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- Washington Wizards
In Game 1 of the 2017 Eastern Conference semis between the Wizards and Celtics, Markieff Morris went down hard after Al Horford’s foot undercut him on a shot attempt. Morris left the game with an ankle sprain having played just 11 minutes, and robbing Washington of one of its most versatile weapons. Judging from the way his ankle splayed to an unhealthy right angle, it seemed like he’d be out for a while. However, in Game 2, Morris played his best game of the playoffs, hitting his first four field goal attempts and finishing with 16 points, six rebounds, and some pretty savvy assists. He also showed no signs of injury. Perhaps Markieff simply made an amazing recovery. Or perhaps… it was Markieff’s identical twin brother, Marcus, who played for the eliminated Detroit Pistons at the time, who dressed up as Markieff given that Marcus was healthy, unoccupied, and looked exactly the same as his brother in a Wizards Jersey.
Now the brothers aren't the same height. Markieff is 6-foot-10, and Marcus is only 6-foot-9. This is incredibly useful for telling them apart if they are standing next to each other, but it's much harder to tell when they are not in the same place at the same time. The brothers also shared the same exact tattoos. And further, the brothers have admitted to pulling this trick back in their AAU days when one brother fouled out and the other got hurt. While people who know the Morrises claim they can tell them apart - Markieff’s hair is thicker and Marcus’s face is rounder - it's impossible to ever confirm for sure. It's likely something if it did happen, they would take to their graves, or maybe in ten years admit on an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary.
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1631 VOTESDuring the 2021 NBA standoff between the Philadelphia 76ers and star point forward Ben Simmons, it was leaked that disgruntled front office members allegedly stated Simmons was faking mental health problems and injury to avoid playing for the team. While Simmons cited back problems following an offseason surgery as the reason why he was seemingly unwilling to put any effort into training with the team, a prevailing belief among front office executives around the league was that Simmons was exaggerating these reports, as a negotiation tactic for a trade, which he later got.
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It seems like a crazy idea today, but the NBA in the 90s lacked star power. Following the retirements of Larry Bird and also Magic Johnson, due to AIDS. The ‘93 season was before Hakeem won two titles; before Malone and Stockton cemented themselves as the most talented losers of a decade; and before either Reggie Miller or Pat Ewing emerged out of MJ’s shadow. Jordan's Bulls had just wiped out the last legs of the Lakers dynasty and mopped the floor with Clyde Drexler in the previous two postseasons. The league would see Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, AI, KG, and Kobe drafted over the next few years, but desperately needed stars at this point in time. Who better than Charles Barkley and his Phoenix Suns?
Now the '93 Suns were no slouch and finished with the league's best record during the regular season. However, they were on the verge of playoff elimination in the first round after losing the first two games at home against the No. 8 seeded Los Angeles Lakers, nearly becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose a first round matchup. It took the Suns until overtime in Game 5 to pull away and secure a series victory. Later, after the Suns defeated the Sonics in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, there were complaints about the free throw comparison between the two teams. The 64-36 disparity (+28 in favor of the Suns) certainly lent credence to the idea the NBA wanted the sanitized Suns (Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, Tom Chambers, Danny Ainge) over the “thuggish” SuperSonics (Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Ricky Pierce, Sam Perkins, Derrick McKey) in the Finals. The Sonics were combustible. They were flawed. They were a little bit dangerous and not at all conventional. On the other hand, the Suns season saw the debut of the new "Streaking Sun" logo. They were rebranded as a team of likable veterans who earned their shot with a fresh outlook.
Anytime free throw disparities look this lopsided in a series deciding game, the conspiracy theorists will be out in full force. Sometimes a team's style of play - i.e. a shooting-dominant team vs. a driving-dominant team - will put them in more or less situations to earn free throws. But seeing as this was the 90s and teams primarily played through the paint, it's hard to make that argument, leaving an NBA conspiracy from the top down as the seeming culprit. Don't take our word for it, you can watch the whole game on YouTube and see for yourselves.
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1848 VOTESClay Bennett's Double Dealing Was Preordained By The League Office
Is it really a coincidence the businessman who happened to purchase the Seattle SuperSonics called Oklahoma City home? Clay Bennett purchased the team from Howard Schultz in 2006 under the good faith condition that he make every attempt to keep the team in Seattle. However, Bennett immediately violated that agreement by failing to make any realistic attempts and quite lackadaisically fundraising for a new stadium. A year later Bennett announced the team would be moving to Oklahoma City when the franchise's lease agreement with the arena ran up. In 2008 the team moved to Oklahoma City, where Bennett still resided.
While Bennett settled a lawsuit with Seattle for $75 million for his actions, one can't help but think it was the plan all along and initially co-signed by NBA commissioner David Stern. Why else would the league okay Bennett's purchase? They couldn't have possibly thought Bennett would honestly keep the team in Seattle. With the New Orleans Hornets having temporarily relocated to Oklahoma City in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and spending two seasons as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, the league, Stern, and Bennett must've known and must've seen data that hinted OKC's league revenues would blow Seattle's out of the water. Making it all a pre-ordained setup from the beginning.
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When the ex-POTUS' youngest son had a tremendous growth spurt near the end of Trump's tenure in Office, rumors started to swirl that Barron Trump is not “The Donald's” biological son. In fact, murmurs across the bottom floor of the internet suspect that Barron is actually the son of Melania Trump and a Slovenian or Russian NBA player with whom she had an affair in the early 00s. Lending credence to the conspiracy is the obvious fact that Barron stands at 6'7" as a teenager, a pure 5 inches taller than his father. It's not just the height, but the body type, including an extremely long wingspan. Could it be Boštjan Nachbar? The Slovenian forward was traded to the New Jersey Nets a month before Barron's birth in Manhattan, New York in 2006. Seems like pretty convenient timing for a soon-to-be dad to randomly move to the big city. While this NBA conspiracy is the most politically charged of all, if you really break down the albeit tangential circumstantial evidence, there might be a kernel of truth there.
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- 2018 VOTES
Ever wonder why Kevin Durant would go to Brooklyn, New York? Or why LeBron chose Los Angeles as his free agency destination? These are two of the biggest names in NBA history and they happened to end up in two of the country's biggest markets. Well there's a theory that around the mid 10s, having seen the impact LeBron had in Miami with jersey sales and overall merchandising, that Nike realized they could make a killing if their biggest athletes didn't play in small markets like Cleveland or Oklahoma City and they became determined to get their biggest stars to the coasts.
Now they couldn't control LeBron's choice to head back to Cleveland, as they still owed him at the time. But upon witnessing the rise of the Golden State Warriors and their Under Armour wearing superstar Steph Curry, Nike had to make an attempt to reclaim the marketshare they were rapidly losing in a massive San Francisco market. When Durant came due in free agency, Nike stepped up and sweetened a deal under-the-table for KD to go to Golden State hoping to cram Nike back down the Bay Area's Under Armour loving throats. At this point though, something unpredictable happened. While GSW went on to win two more championships with KD aboard, not only the city but the country overall completely turned on Durant and gave him no credit for winning the titles, despite being NBA Finals MVP. Everyone felt Curry had been snubbed for the award and still was far and away the Warrior's best player.
Despite this backfire and the new ascent of Kawhi, a New Balance guy, as another shoe-market shaker-upper, Nike was gifted a year to reboot their strategy when KD went out for a season with an Achilles injury. It was then Nike decide to completely shift the balance of power in the league and reset the board in hopes of stopping Steph and Kawhi (and Under Armour/New Balance) from winning any more titles (and capturing any more marketshare). Nike apparently helped incentivize moves for all their biggest names to the biggest NBA markets. They pushed LeBron and Paul George to LA (to counteract Kawhi), and paired Kyrie Irving and KD in Brooklyn. Feels convenient, doesn't it? Only question now is… where will they send Giannis Antetokounmpo when his contract runs up in 2026.
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- Miami Heat
2130 VOTESIn 2004, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh hit it off as teammates for the U.S. Olympic Squad and became close friends. In 2006, James, Wade and Bosh signed extensions for the same length of time with their respective teams. Then in 2010, the trio joined forces on the Miami Heat to create one of the league's premier Big 3s that would go on to win two NBA championships in four straight trips to the NBA Finals.
According to Knicks superfan Spike Lee, the moves were all preordained. "This is nothing but a pure Corleone gangster move. It was laid out. This didn’t happen by happenstance. They made people look like idiots. They had the thing planned out two years ago.”
Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert saw it the same way, going so far to file a tampering charge with the league after LeBron announced his intentions to take his talents from Cleveland to South Beach.
The timing of the players signing extensions remains curious to this day thanks to how calculated it ended up feeling, but given that all three stars were taken in the same NBA draft, it does make sense on some level. However, none of us were in those hotels at during the Olympics run and can attest to conversations had over games of bourrée.
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- New Orleans Pelicans
In January 2019, Anthony Davis demanded a trade from the New Orleans Pelicans franchise in the midst of a 33-49 season, and was fined for publicly announcing the request. On May 14, 2019, the Pelicans received the first overall pick at the NBA draft lottery of the 2019 NBA draft, despite having a six percent chance to win it after finishing with the 8th worst record.
So the conspiracy theory goes that #1 pick Zion Williamson was a penance handed out by the NBA to keep basketball alive in NOLA in the wake of losing a generational talent like AD to a trade to the Lakers. Without Zion in New Orleans, basketball surely would've crumbled. However, thanks to the NBA not so stealthily stepping in, the move bought the Pelicans enough time to enact a proper rebuild that would stabilize the franchise for years to come.
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- Phoenix Suns
2347 VOTESEvery NBA Player Uses Steroids
How else is LeBron James scoring nearly 30 points a night at age 38? Only half kidding. The NBA has never dealt with a major steroids scandal in the history of the league. However, some suspect many hoopers would be found out as steroid users should a real test ever be administered. And that the results would be so widespread and pervasive among current players, the league would in effect have to temporarily shutdown. Which is why they don't test.
In the first five years of commissioner Adam Silver's reign, he did hand out multiple steroid suspensions to the likes of Joakim Noah, Jodie Meeks, John Collins, Wilson Chandler, and most notable of all former #1 pick and Phoenix Suns center DeAndre Ayton. Now, are these players just stupid enough to get caught? Or the tip of the iceberg? Chances are we'll never know. If Kobe Bryant's repeated trips to Germany for “blood platelet therapy” in his playing days weren't enough to trigger an investigation by the league office, it's hard to imagine much else could, in lieu of something akin to baseball's Mitchell Report coming out randomly.
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- Jimmy Butler
NBA basketball star Jimmy Butler has defied all odds to achieve massive success in the league. Butler didn't grow up in a typical loving family home. He was homeless at the tender age of 13 years. His father abandoned the family when Butler was still an infant. Nonetheless, Jimmy Butler worked to become a perennial NBA All-Star and NBA All-defensive player, despite a wavy childhood.
There is an amusing conspiracy theory on the internet that suggests Michael Jordan is Jimmy Butler’s father. Speculations arise from verifiable claims that Michael Jordan abandoned a child back in 1988. At the time MJ was married, but allegedly he stepped out of his married and sired a child. In fear of sabotaging his family, he paid the mother’s child to keep his secret and keep the child out of their life. While it's not a 1:1 match, the fact remains that MJ could've conceived the child in 1988, as Jimmy Butler was born in September 1989.
The rumor goes ahead to say that Butler's mom kicked him out of the house at the age of 13 when payments stopped, citing that she didn’t like how he looked (i.e. who he looked like?).This hearsay seems to align with Butler’s story of growing up. The two also seem to have some resemblance, in appearance, attitude, and physical demeanor on the court, which further strengthens suspicions.
The whole rumor lacks enough ground to make any conclusions. The fun similarity between Butler and Jordan arose from the fact that they both played for the Chicago Bulls and worked together on an endorsement deal. It is also said that Jordan once volunteered at Butler’s basketball camp when he was still young.
The whereabouts of Bulter’s father are unknown, but thanks to friends who allowed Butler to crash at their house while growing up, the small forward was able to survive and eventually make it to the league.
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- 2555 VOTES
This conspiracy theory admittedly arose from a conversation on a conservative Minnesota talk radio station in 2008, so measure its value at your own risk, when one of the hosts suggested that Magic Johnson never had AIDS. The argument stated was that the HIV test Magic Johnson took in 1991 came back with a false positive and what happened was Johnson came out with the news before the result could be confirmed via a second opinion. After which point, Johnson was unsure of how to walk track his extremely public statement and the consequences of becoming the new face of the war on AIDS. With a name like Magic Johnson, the rest was marketing.
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- Thon Maker
2620 VOTESThere is a legitimate theory that Thon Maker is actually four years older than what is on his official passport, and that Maker actually graduated from Aranmore Catholic College, a high school in Perth, Australia, back in 2010 before enrolling again in high school in America in 2012 as a freshman (which would've put him at age 19). Years later, Maker was drafted fresh out of high school as a 19 year old. When the Milwaukee Bucks drafted Maker with the 10th pick in the 2016 NBA draft, they were actually drafting a 23 year old. Apologists were vehement that these rumors were just other teams trying to crash Maker's draft stock. However a former classmate from Maker's high school in Australia came out with a 2010 yearbook photo showing him in 12th grade and a 2007 photo showing him in 9th grade. Maker didn't have a long NBA career, but it's always fascinating why guys fake identities and how they get away with it.
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