1. There is a fine line between something being a tongue-in-cheek joke and a problem. I’m not quite sure on which side of the line the NBA is on right now regarding the draft lottery based on reaction from fans.

With the Mavericks winning the lottery Monday, after having just a 1.8% chance to land the No.1 pick, and now in line to have Cooper Flagg join Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving next season, many fans are convinced there is something shady going on—and that’s an understatement. And I’m not just talking about some looney-tunes people on Twitter. There are legit people in the sports world who think the lottery is not exactly on the up and up.

In addition, “rigged” was trending for a long time on Monday and people were posting entertaining things like this.

Of course, the one flaw in this conspiracy theory is that the Lakers were booted in the first round, so if everything IS rigged, Adam Silver is not doing a great job.

I’m usually of the belief that any publicity is good publicity, especially today. We sadly live in a world where any attention is a positive and clicks are good, engagement is good, trending is good.

But when a growing portion of your fanbase is fully convinced that things are rigged, you might want a different kind of attention.

2. There have been a lot of NFL schedule announcements since Monday morning. None of them have been particularly newsworthy except for one.

Fox announced that it will air a doubleheader in Week 16 on Saturday, Dec. 20. Times weren’t released but you can bet the house those games will kick off at 4:30 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET.

That is significant because those two NFL games will go up against the College Football Playoff, which has three games scheduled for Dec. 20.

The NFL wouldn’t allow the NBA to have Christmas Day and now the it won’t allow college football to have a late Saturday in December.

3. With the Knicks taking a 3–1 series lead on the Celtics Monday night and the Pacers holding a 3–1 series lead on the Cavs, there is a decent chance the Eastern Conference finals will feature a New York-Indiana battle.

TNT will air the Eastern Conference finals this year, while ESPN gets the West. It will be the final games that TNT airs after a 36-year partnership with the NBA.

In a case of a blessing and a curse, if the ECF ends up being Knicks-Pacers, the series will be called by Reggie Miller (alongside Kevin Harlan and possibly Stan Van Gundy, who TNT has added to the conference finals booth in recent years). You can’t deny that having Miller behind the mic for a Knicks-Pacers Eastern Conference finals is a cool thing, especially when it will be the final broadcasts by TNT.

However, there’s also a good chance TNT will turn the series into The Reggie Miller Show, which they did last year when the Knicks and Pacers met in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Let’s hope TNT shows some restraint this season if we get New York vs. Indiana. While the Miller angle is nostalgic, the people tuning in care about the current game more than anything else.

4. ESPN announced the pricing for its upcoming direct-to-consumer product. However, no launch date was announced. So if you’d like to cut the cord and get rid of cable, but continue to have access to ESPN, these are the plans available to you:

• Monthly subscription: $29.99

• Annual subscription: $299.99

• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN unlimited bundle: $35.99/month (with ads on Disney+/Hulu), $44.99/month (no ads on Disney+/Hulu*)

• Special offer at launch: Disney+, Hulu, ESPN unlimited bundle for $29.99/month for the first 12 months (with ads on Disney+/Hulu)

5. This was amusing stuff from Julian Edelman on Tom Brady giving him bad hair advice.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with John Tesh, the composer of NBC’s NBA theme song “Roundball Rock.”

Tesh talks about the recent announcement from NBC that “Roundball Rock” will return as the network’s theme song for the NBA for the next 11 years, what the negotiations were like with NBC, the popularity of the song, how the song got created and landed on NBC, getting spoofed on Saturday Night Live and why people weren’t satisfied with Fox using the song on its college basketball coverage.

Tesh also discusses what it was like to host Entertainment Tonight for 10 years, becoming a reporter at CBS’s New York affiliate at just 22 years old, what it was like to date Oprah Winfrey in the ‘70s and much more.

Following Tesh, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss Sal’s Mother’s Day dilemma, the NBA playoffs, another wrestler going off on Hulk Hogan and Roku airing MLB games. We also read Apple reviews from April for SI Media With Jimmy Traina.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 75th birthday to the legendary Stevie Wonder.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘NBA Is Rigged’ Claims Explode After Mavericks Win Draft Lottery.

Test hyperlink for boilerplate