Famous Celebrities Who Played in the NBA

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Now, throughout NBA history, there's actually been plenty of celebrities that joined the league alongside the best players in the world. Percy Miller, better known by his fans as Master P, has created music on a high level for 20 years, but going professional in basketball and making the NBA was his biggest dream. We all know Drake is the music influence in Toronto nowadays, but in 1999, the praise rapper Master P seeked his spot on his favorite team, which was the Raptors, and he even attended meetings and played in a few exhibition games. Drake was just 13 years old when Master P contacted the Raptors and began practicing with them. But Master P had already found lots of success with music, succeeding as a performer, artist, and even creating his own label, No Limit Records. But he later decided that it wasn't enough for him. He wanted to chase his childhood dream of being in the NBA. Many fans and other people around the world were skeptical not only about his skills, but also that he was fake and just wanted the money. But what people didn't realize is that at the time of his tryout with the Raptors, Miller was on the cover of Fortune magazine as part of a story of the wealthiest Americans under the age of 40 The magazine at the time estimated his net worth at 361 million at that point. Master P spoke with CBC News during a Raptors shoot around and spoke about his dream of being in the NBA when he said, My whole dream was to be a basketball player, be in the NBA. This music thing blew up for me, and now I'm just chasing my other dreams, which is basketball. Like anything you do, if you work hard, you can get there. That's what I'm doing. I mean, my whole life has been no limit. That's what it's about right now. Butch Carter, who was the coach of the Raptors at the time, also spoke about having Master P in the building, and he said, We've made an investment in a lot of young players here, you know? We've got to decide if we'll make an investment, which is a minimal investment in someone like him. He's been nothing but positive here. Not many players know, prior to his tryout with the Raptors, he was actually scouted by the Hornets, and they too had him come tryout for the team and even play in a few scrimmages. Master P joined right after Jordan made his exit from the league, as well as right after the NBA had a lockout that was pushing fans away from the game. As a part of the NBA's attempt to bring fans back following the lockout, the Hornets had a free scrimmage at the Charlotte Coliseum on Saturday, January 23, 1999 The team had expected about 8,000 people for the 1230 p.m. exhibition, but fans had lined up from 7 a.m. and the attendance was over 15,000 people because of Master P's appearance. Hornets guard Eldridge Recasner said, It was louder than our regular season games. I played in the NBA for 8 years and never saw that many people at an inter-squad scrimmage. I'm not blowing smoke. I couldn't believe all those people were there to see this guy. I went Master P on the bench to start the game. The crowd, which included No Limit artists, Maya X, Mystical, and Mr. Servon, chanted stuff like, We want P. And the request was granted. As he entered the game, it quickly hit a three. He held three fingers in the air, and one fan waved a sign that said, Goodbye, MJ. Hello, Master P. In 16 minutes, he scored nine points, with his team coming away with the win. And after the game, he told reporters that, I know that's what I could bring to the league. I got a big following, and I sold a lot of records. I just came to show the world I could play basketball. The GM Bob Bass called me and said, You could play. You're a hell of a basketball player, but your music is pure filth, and it's a Bible Belt city. And they let me go.
With Lil B being a rap sensation, as well as being one of the most famous Twitter personas on social media, he used to want to take something other than music seriously. And for him, that was basketball. Back in 2012, the Warriors D-League team, the Santa Cruz Warriors, were holding tryouts over the weekend, with many faces showing up for a spot on the team. One of the people was a 76-year-old man that knew he had no shot, but decided to cross it off his bucket list. At Bay Area, rapper Lil B was also there. Kirk Lakob, who was the assistant general manager of the Warriors, spoke about the tryouts that they held and said, Lil B was one of 68 people who showed up for our open tryouts at Optus High in Santa Cruz County on Sunday. We love holding open tryouts because we had the opportunity to discover a diamond in the rough and engage with people who were passionate about sports and willing to put themselves out there to chase their dreams. Lil B was a total team player. He was very respectful of our coaching staff and thrilled about being a part of what we, the Warriors, are creating at Santa Cruz. Since he's from Berkeley, he was happy to support the Bay Area teams and we're happy to have him. And although Lil B didn't play in any formal games, he tweeted this thanks to the Warriors for having him, and he has since been a troll on Twitter calling out NBA players like Kevin Durant for a one on one. Lil B's also been known for putting a curse on people that he doesn't get along with. And although it seems like a myth, the curse kind of holds true, and usually after being cursed, the players start playing poorly. A few years ago, Lil B saw James Harden do his cooking celebration, and he hopped on Twitter and instantly cursed Harden for not admitting the celebration came from Lil B himself. And the result of this curse didn't make Harden do horrible, but he's fallen short of winning a championship up to this point. The undefeated caught up with Lil B to hear about the hard situation, and Lil B said, I'll start it when I saw James Harden doing the Lil B cooking dance sports celebration on live TV. First, I just want to make sure that we all knew what he was doing, because I know he got it from me. I just want to make sure that we all know who the creator of this dance that he was doing was. He just refused to acknowledge me. And when TMZ caught up with Harden and asked him about the Twitter noise as well as Lil B, his response was, I don't even know what happened. I don't know who that is. In 2015, however, Lil B got another shot to try to make the league when he got an email from the 76ers D-League team, the 87ers. They invited them to try out for the team, and he posted the email on Twitter with the caption saying, Jeremy Lin made it from the D-League, so if I'm correct, I'ma follow his steps. Quavo being one of the most popular rappers in recent years, not many people know he's been in pursuit of becoming a professional athlete for many years. When Quavo was young, he was the star quarterback for his high school football team in Atlanta, shattering school records and was even compared to Michael Vick for his impressive speed as well as being left-handed. One of Quavo's high school teammates talked about his athletic ability recently saying, even if he got out of the pocket, he would always keep his eyes downfield. I think he liked throwing the deep ball. When he got rushed, we'd be like one for the first down and he'd end up throwing for 40 yards. Quavo's high school coach at the time talked about him as well saying, he was a joy to coach. He made it fun. The thing they all had to learn was that for me to be on time, you have to be five minutes early. Quavius would always walk in exactly five minutes early and smile that little grin he has. Coach, I'm here. I think sometimes he'd do it just to aggravate me, but he was always there. He was a prankster. You always hear him singing in the locker room. One time I was talking to him about his grades and everything, and he said, coach, I got you with the grades, but I just want to get out of here and make music. He was adamant. He was going to be successful in the music industry. I hear a lot of Quavius' music in the locker room, and I've had several of my players say, coach, can you get his autograph? Coach, can you get him to come and talk to us? I'm like, he's out touring. Leave him alone. Now when it comes to basketball, Quavius had workouts that went viral, with a familiar trainer in today's league, an NBA skills coach, Chris Brickley. Quavius even appeared in multiple celebrity games during NBA All-Star weekends, and he also appears in multiple Hawks games per year. Quavius also showed plenty of support to the newly drafted Trey Young of the Atlanta Hawks. Quavius constantly posted on Instagram and Twitter congratulating Trey over the last few seasons, and even went as far as buying Trey a custom chain, which was a basketball pendant with the words ice tray written across it and diamonds throughout. But as far as Quavius in the league, the 2018 All-Star weekend approached in Los Angeles, and Quavo went crazy in that game, winning MVP, leading team Clippers to a victory. He scored 19 points and grabbed five rebounds on the way. The 2019 All-Star game was a charlatan. Quavo once again had a performance not seen by a celebrity with 27 points in that game, and he also got the crowd going wild with a four-point shot in the last 20 seconds. Quavo was also a hot topic on Twitter after the game with fans upset that he didn't win back-to-back MVPs, but also praised him for playing the game with his grills in. Now with two chains mainly being known for his music, he too has been a supreme athlete, and he also made it to the league in his own way. Not only has he had multiple appearances at All-Star Weekends and been court-side in many games, he now has made it to the NBA present day. Before Two Chainz was a very popular rapper, he was actually a very good player for his hometown high school team, and as a 10th grader, Two Chainz was the star six man for the North Clayton High in College Park, Georgia, and he won a state title after a 10-10 start in 1992 By senior year, he was already 6'5, and Two Chainz was a legitimate Division 1 recruit who got some attention from the University of Memphis, which was then looking for a tall guard to replace Penny Hardaway. After graduating from North Clayton, he'd go on to play a full season Division 1 ball at Alabama State in 1996 and 1997, playing a 24 of 29 game, including losses to Georgetown, Ohio State, and a final four bound Minnesota. Averaging less than 11 minutes per game, his best stat line came in the season finale against Alcorn State, when he put up 14 points and seven rebounds in just 10 minutes. James Gwynn, who was his head coach in high school, even spoke about his athletic ability recently saying, he was a tough matchup. He was a 6'5, 6'6, perimeter player. He didn't play inside at all. He could handle the ball very well, pass the ball very well. He was a kind of slippery guy. The little guys couldn't guard him, and the big guys couldn't stay with him. He was very deceptive and kind of had a unique style, because all you really saw was his arms and legs. He had good ball control, but looked a little unorthodox. He was sort of hard to get a hold of. He was like a Reggie Lewis from Boston or Reggie Miller. Definitely Reggie Miller in terms of cockiness on the court. I'm just thinking of those guys, because they have similar bills. He could shoot the three, he could go inside. He played with a lot of confidence, and he could talk some trash. His best friend in high school, who was also his teammate, spoke about him as well saying, he was a good dribbler. All the fancy moves, the street ball like they're doing now in the and one videos, he was doing that 17 years ago. Behind the back and the no look passes between the legs, spin it to you, he throw it out and come back to you like it was a yo-yo. We just thought it was so smooth. I compare to someone like Scottie Pippen or Lamar Odom. Versatile. He could play the one through five. He could definitely handle the ball coming up the court with no problem. He didn't have to worry about it getting taken or no turnovers. He could be a two guard, a real good shooter. He had good size. He was a slasher. He could rebound. He could play small forward or power forward, and with his height, he could play the middle. He was already six foot five in high school. He had good talent. He had a real good jump shot, and he was taller, so he could play down low. Two Chains has also created the direct relationship with the NBA. He recently got involved in part ownership of the Atlanta Hawks G League team, the College Park Skyhawks. College Park is where he grew up, so for him, there was a no-brainer to be able to get people a shot at making the league from an area that's close to his heart. When he bought into the team, he talked about this, and he said, it's exciting and a dream come true to be a part of the sports team, especially one in my community. Being able to get back, create opportunities for the youth, inspire and show people what you could do if you believe in yourself and work hard, it makes this opportunity so meaningful to me. Now with J. Cole constantly surrounded by spotlight in the rap game, he too has been a supreme athlete looking to get a chance to make it professionally. Growing up, J. Cole was a star athlete for his school with him being over six foot tall. Many feel out of the celebrities, he has the best shot of being successful in the NBA. In an interview when J. Cole was asked about sports as a kid, he said, I was always in love with basketball as a kid, but I thought I was way better than I really was because I didn't have a male figure around to show me how to actually play. Me and my brother just kind of figured it out playing rec ball. I went to a middle school that didn't have a team. That kind of set me back. Then when I got to high school, I tried out for the team my freshman year and I got cut. I couldn't understand because I thought I was really good. So I blamed the coaches and I thought they had it out for me. Then I went out the next year and I got cut again. And that's when I really had to take an honest look at myself and be like, Yo, why did this happen? It's got to be on me now. I can't blame anybody else. That was the first time I started working like a real basketball player. Thousand shots a day, sprints, minute drills, one-on-one full court with the star player of the team every day, literally, for the entire school year and the entire summer. Then I sprouted up to about six foot two. By the time the next season came around, I made the team. By the time I was a senior, I was finally starting. I wasn't the star player, far from it, but my growth was so quick that by the time I was a freshman to college, I had the talent of someone that should have at least been on the bench at a D1 school. J. Cole was actually a great basketball player, and he became a walk-on player at St. John's University, a division one men's basketball program. However, when he was one day called by the team, he decided to never show up again, as he wanted to focus on music instead. Obviously, things worked out in his favor. We've seen the success that he's had so far as an artist, but J. Cole got a chance to showcase his basketball ability when he was still coming up as an artist. He attracted enough spotlight on him that he's able to participate in the 2012 All-Star Weekend in Orlando. During the celebrity game, there was a lot of big names. And although Kevin Hart won the MVP, J. Cole showcased his basketball skill and even caught a lot from Hart that he slammed for a dunk. But the most recent showing of J. Cole skills were during the 2019 All-Star Weekend at Charlotte, where he helped Dennis Smith Jr. with an alley-oop during the dunk contest. He tossed the ball over his head and Smith soared over him. And after the completed dunk, J. Cole decided to show his own skills by going up for a one-handed slam. But he came up short of missing it, which just sent the crowd in the laughter and instantly went viral. Hey, dog, what are you doing, bro? Click on this video on the screen, bro. You see this video right here on the screen, dog? This video right here? It's a pretty fire video, bro. Seriously. It's good. It's good. It's really good, actually. You click on it and watch. You let me know how good it is or how bad it is. I don't know. You know what I'm saying? I need you to watch it and tell me. Let me know. I think it's pretty fire though. Click on it.