Dikembe Mutombo made waves in NBA circles after a regrettable Twitter mistake. Hours before the start of the NBA Draft Lottery, the long-time NBA star tweeted out a message congratulating his former Sixers team on winning the first overall pick in the draft.
ICYMI. Dikembe sent out this tweet and deleted it. pic.twitter.com/DmrgKhHpny
— NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) May 17, 2016
Mutombo deleted the tweet quickly, and apologized for the mistake with this classic:
Sorry, guys.Got excited about the @sixers odds and got ahead of myself.Still keeping my fingers crossed for tonight. pic.twitter.com/u6bFaNTJml
— Dikembe Mutombo (@officialmutombo) May 17, 2016
When the Sixers did get the first overall pick, the stage was set for plenty of conspiracy theories about the NBA rigging the process. Those ideas are always present but Mutombo’s mistake made them extra prevalent.
Mutombo, for his part, is doing everything he can to lay those rumors to rest. The big man spoke to the Associated Press and explained how the error happened:
Mutombo played for the 76ers during his Hall of Fame career and now works for the NBA as a global ambassador. On Tuesday afternoon, he received an email from the Sixers organization asking him if he would post a congratulatory message on Twitter if the 76ers won.
The email, obtained by AP, showed some sample tweets that could be used. He copied and pasted one onto his Twitter page — but then immediately sent it.
“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.”
Mutombo then spoke directly to the conspiracy theorists:
They need to stop that,” he said. “The NBA is like such a great organization, they don’t even go that way.”
Well there you have it. The man in charge of the tweet heard ’round the world is telling you there is no conspiracy. This is not to mention that that tweet was sent an hour before the lottery even took place. Let’s all stop thinking the NBA and the draft lottery are rigged, okay?
