Do you have theories on why the Mavs traded Luka? What about how the Spurs got three No. 1 picks out of a mere six lottery appearances — in 40 years? “Red Flagg,” the new single and video by Fort Worth indie-rockers Hotel Satellite, offers a lyrical side-eye to the credulous folks desperate for explanations, and it reminded me that long ago, I used to dig conspiracy theories. Back then, crackpot ideas mostly appeared in X-Files episodes and interviews with Art Bell and/or George Noory, and when some kooky guest on Coast to Coast AM would breathlessly reveal the truth about who flew the UFO that disappeared Amelia Earhart (Bigfoot, duh), it was merely entertaining. Most of us knew these kooks were kooks and that their shaggy allegations about shadowy government agencies and maleficent otherworldly entities were nonsense. Thirty years later, those kooks have (brain-)wormed their way into the highest offices of the United States, in part because conspiracies have been mainstreamed and people want to believe anything and anyone to bolster their own biases.
Rocking and moody, with the reverb and tremolo giving the chords a sly, conspiratorial tone, “Red Flagg,” referencing Mavs star Cooper Flagg, is steeped in sports intrigue. Each line refers to some evidence, however specious, that the NBA draft lottery is rigged. Hotel Satellite frontman Kevin Aldridge, a sports enthusiast to the max, told me that he used the theory as “a confirmation bias, that people will believe anything if they want to bad enough, and like all conspiracy theories, it’s so loosely thrown together, it falls apart under the scrutiny of facts.”
Kevin Aldridge
But — and I’m just asking questions here — what if the line “Silver gave ’em gold / Even though they held back the bag” — referring to the theory that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver directed the Mavs to withhold Luka’s extension and send him to the Lakers to replace LeBron upon the latter’s retirement or relocation — makes you can’t not believe the draft really is an elaborate multi-decade script?
Aldridge answers that in the first verse: “It don’t matter what you think you know / It’s all a work.”
In 2026, when way too many people have stopped believing in the goddamn measles vaccine, conspiracies are reality, to the point that reality itself seems like a conspiracy. And that, right there, is how you know it really is all a work.
