America's National Basketball Association is investigating Jay-Z. The rapper is in trouble neither for slamming dunks nor for rhyming about LeBron James, but because he visited a team's locker room after their game.
Being a celebrity is not against NBA rules. But when Jay-Z visited the Kentucky Wildcats' locker room on Sunday night, he was not simply a famous musician paying his respects: he is part-owner of an NBA team, the New Jersey Nets. The Wildcats are in reality the University of Kentucky Wildcats, a college team full of young prospects – and there are rules prohibiting contact with future draft picks.
Although Jay-Z didn't break any regulations at the college level, he may have provoked NBA bosses, who have reportedly launched a probe into the incident. If found to have had inappropriate conversations with players who are not yet draft eligible, Jay-Z could face a considerable fine. In 2007, an employee of the Boston Celtics was made to pay $30,000 (£18,693) for "excessive contact" with the family of then-student Kevin Durant. In that case, "excessive contact" involved sitting beside Durant's mum.
The meeting took place at Newark's Prudential Center, home of the Nets, shortly after the Wildcats' regional final win over North Carolina. Jay-Z was reportedly waiting in the hallway as Wildcat players returned to the locker room. "I said, 'Oh that's Jay-Z!'" forward Terrence Jones told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "We all gave him a handshake and he came in ... and we just kept screaming 'Jay-Z in the locker room!' He congratulated us, just said he was proud of us."
"Rap artists and basketball players, we joined at the hip," Jay-Z told MTV in 2003. "That's my family, on a real level."
.png?w=600)
