Shaquille O’Neal recently shared an intriguing conversation he had with the late NBA commissioner David Stern, just before the 1992 NBA Draft. During their chat, Stern asked O’Neal whether he preferred to play in a warm or cold climate.

“[Stern] says to me, ‘Hey, can’t wait for you to come to the NBA,’” O’Neal recounted on Ashley Nevel’s podcast. “Then he pulled me off to the side. ‘You want to play where it’s cold or where it’s hot?’ He asked me that. Yeah, he did. He asked me that. And I was like, ‘Hot.’ And he smiled, and I smiled.”

O’Neal ultimately got his wish as the Orlando Magic won the lottery that year, securing him as their first overall pick.

Even though he didn’t think much about the conversation back then, O’Neal now harbors some skepticism regarding the NBA Draft Lottery’s outcomes, mentioning the recent criticisms of the process, including the Dallas Mavericks’ lottery win following a controversial trade involving star player Luka Dončić.

“You hear a lot of these conspiracy theories, and there’s a lot of situations that could make these things sound good and sound true,” stated O’Neal, reflecting on the ongoing discussions about the lottery’s integrity.

O’Neal’s narrative joins a long history of speculation surrounding the NBA Draft and its lottery system, further fueling discussions among fans and analysts alike.