NBA draft lottery conspiracies are a hot topic these days in the wake of the Dallas Mavericks overcoming very long odds to win the right to draft Cooper Flagg a few short months after GM Nico Harrison traded away Luka Doncic.

Shaquille O'Neal even shared a possible conspiracy that never gets talked about regarding the 1992 NBA draft, in which he went No. 1 to the Orlando Magic. According to O'Neal, David Stern asked him what kind of weather he liked before the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had the best odds to win the '92 lottery, fell to No. 3 and the team in Orlando won the right to take the future Hall of Famer.

"In 1992 the draft was in June or something. I meet Mr. Stern in March," said O'Neal. "And he says to me, 'Hey, I know who you are, can't wait for you to come to the NBA.' Then he pulls me to the side, 'You want to play where it's cold or it's hot?"

After O'Neal said "hot," he and the commissioner both smiled. The Timberwolves, who had a 16.67% chance of winning the lottery, dropped to No. 3, while the Magic, who had a 15.15% chance, won the lottery. The other big winner was the Charlotte Hornets who moved up six spots to No. 2 and drafted Alonzo Mourning.

"I didn't think anything about it," O'Neal continued, "but you know you hear a lot of these conspiracy theories, there's a lot of situations that could make these things sound good and sound true."

The Timberwolves had to settle for the reigning player of the year in college basketball, Christian Laettner, who made the All-Rookie team averaging 18 points and eight rebounds a game as a rookie.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Shaquille O'Neal Shares Draft Lottery Conspiracy Involving Himself and David Stern.

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