Dikembe Mutombo wags his finger at NBA Draft lottery conspiracy talk
It was a simple misunderstanding
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1 min read
Dikembe Mutombo congratulated the Philadelphia 76ers on Twitter on winning the lottery hours before the ping pong balls bounced their way. That does not, however, mean that Mutombo, the NBA and the Sixers are involved in an elaborate lottery-fixing scheme.
On Tuesday afternoon, a Sixers employee sent an email to Mutombo, which has been obtained by CBS Sports. The email urged him to congratulate the franchise if it won the No. 1 pick. Mutombo copied, pasted and tweeted a sample tweet prematurely, then deleted it and apologized, sending another tweet saying that he "got excited" and "got ahead of myself."
From the email:
Hi Dikembe,
As you know tonight is the NBA Draft Lottery and we are all excited and hopeful we walk away with the #1 overall pick.
To help create excitement for the team, would it be possible for you (or whoever controls your account) to post a congratulatory tweet in the event we do get the #1 Overall Pick? I know you have ties to many teams, but none of which would be in the running for the #1 pick this year
Here are some quick simple sample tweets -
Congrats to @Sixers on grabbing the #1 spot in the #NBADraft. #PHILAfirst
Back on top. #PHILAfirst
Back in the #1 spot! Congrats, @Sixers! #PHILAfirst
Even a retweet of @Sixers account would be appreciated.
Let me know if you have any questions and we definitely need to talk or meet soon.
In an interview with the Associated Press' Brian Mahoney, Mutombo explained that it was simply a "mistake that happened." I guess he is not an oracle.
"I want to let people know there was no conspiracy," Mutombo said in a phone interview.
...
"It was like maybe 30 seconds, then I realized, 'Whoa! What did I do here?'" he said. "But it was too late. It was out in the air."
The lesson, as always: never tweet. Or watch what you tweet. One of the two.
