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Having played for the Philadelphia 76ers for two seasons, Hall-of-Fame center Dikembe Mutombo likely still has connections within the organization. And as a goodwill ambassador for the league, often partaking in Basketball Without Borders camps and other various community outreach programs, Mutombo has strong connections within the NBA.

So can that mean Mutombo knows who will win Tuesday's draft lottery before it actually happens?

Probably not, right? The lottery is largely automated and involves much secrecy while also being transparent after the fact.

Despite that, for some reason, Mutombo tweeted out hours before the lottery is scheduled to take place that the Sixers would be getting the No. 1 overall pick. Of course, he promptly deleted the tweet, but here's his original message:

Hmm ...

After finishing with the worst record in the league, Philadelphia does have the best shot at landing the top pick so perhaps Mutombo was just confused. But even Sixers big man Joel Embiid was surprised by the tweet:

But before you conspiracy theorists start ranting about the "lottery being rigged," Mutombo retracted his tweet, chalking it up to a simple mistake:

Ah, thanks for clarifying Deke. And it's OK ... we all make mistakes from time to time.

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Dikembe Mutombo laughs at his Twitter faux pas. (USATSI)