Basketball fans are accusing one of the NBA’s most prominent and well-respected insiders for “rigging” this year’s 2023 Draft odds.
Ahead of Thursday’s draft, Brandon Miller was the consensus favorite to go second overall to the Charlotte Hornets. The San Antonio Spurs, as everybody expected, used the top selection on Victor Wembanyama.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium tweeted on Thursday afternoon that Scoot Henderson was “gaining serious momentum” to go No. 2. Of course, Charlotte wound up using the second pick on Miller.
Why was Charania’s pre-draft tweet about Henderson and the Hornets significant? Well, it’s important to note that Charania also has a partnership with the FanDuel sportsbook. As such, many fans called out Charania and accused him of rigging draft odds.
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The 29-year-old Charania joined The Athletic and Stadium in 2018 after starting out at Yahoo Sports. In short time, Charania emerged as one of the sport’s most popular and reputable insiders.
Wembanyama has been regarded as the best basketball prospect since LeBron James, who went first overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers back in 2004. Some scouts and analysts consider Wembanyama an even better prospect than the best player of his generation.
After Charlotte drafted Miller, Henderson unsurprisingly went third overall to the Portland Trail Blazers. Twins Amen and Ausar Thompson rounded out the top five, going fourth and fifth to the Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons, respectively.
