David Stern had a potentially incendiary response when asked on “The Jim Rome Show” if the NBA draft lottery is fixed.

“Have you stopped beating your wife yet?” the NBA commissioner asked the host during the radio appearance yesterday.

The fast-talking sports personality seemed stunned by Stern’s quip.

“I don’t know if that’s fair,” Rome said of the retort.

Stern flatly denied the accusation the draft lottery was set up to give the Hornets, currently owned by the NBA, the top pick. Rome said he didn’t believe it was fixed, but that people have speculated it was.

“That’s not a question I’ve been asked before by a respectable journalist,” Stern said.

But the idea the NBA lottery is fixed is not a new one. Many have suggested the 1985 lottery that gave the Knicks the top pick and Patrick Ewing was set up to help bring a top-market team back to prominence.

marc.raimondi@nypost.com