Jay-Z sells stake in Nets to be an NBA agent

Shawn Carter – more commonly known as music mogul and rapper Jay-Z – is taking his involvement in professional basketball to another level. Jay-Z, who owns less than one percent of the Brooklyn Nets, worth about $350,000, has began the process of selling his minority stake in the team. While this move may come as a surprise to some considering how large a role the mogul played in the rebranding, marketing, and promotion of the NBA franchise. He was also actively involved in player recruitment for the team, often meeting with players personally in order to lure them to join Brooklyn’s ranks. Both Jay-Z and his superstar spouse, Beyonce, have been long-time basketball fans and have both been frequently caught on camera enjoying an NBA game or two.

Jay-Z has to relinquish ownership of the Nets in order to be certified as an agent by the National Basketball Players Association. NBA rules mandate that no one individual affiliated with a player representation company can have an ownership stake with an NBA team.

His Roc Nation Sports business will partner with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in this venture.

The process is expected to be completed in time for Roc Nation to compete for players entering the June NBA draft, but there’s no guarantee of the timing, sources said. Those within Roc Nation and the CAA alliance aren’t “chasing a clock on this,” one source said. “This isn’t about one draft, but taking the long view of the business.”

From minority owner of a rebuilding franchise to potentially becoming a future major player in NBA player representation, it looks like Jay-Z’s love of the game is still going strong and even evolving into a possibly more lucrative endeavor.