10 Rappers Who Played Basketball

Best basketball rapper J Cole is known as much for his hooping as for his music. Despite a vibrant career in rap, Cole initially wanted to pursue sports.

In fact, the rapper named his first couple of mixtapes after basketball terms. In high school, he was an avid player of the game, even playing for his school’s team, and continued to pursue the sport when he went to college.

During Cole’s sophomore year at St. John’s University, he tried out for the school’s team, Red Storm, and was one of the 10 players to be afforded a second tryout. Ultimately Cole chose to pursue music.

The rapper’s choice has worked out amazingly as he is seen as the big three among modern rappers aside from Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Still, people can’t help but wonder what if.

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Common is a Chicagoan rapper and actor known for his conscious lyrics. However, a little-known fact is that the rapper is great at basketball.

Basketball runs in Common’s blood as his father was a former ABA player, and as a young boy, the rapper even worked as a ballboy for the NBA team, the Chicago Bulls when Michael Jordan was on the team.

According to the Daily News, Common’s trainer Harley Pasternak has stated that if the rapper’s music career had not worked out, he would have definitely become a basketball player.

Like Cole, Common still plays basketball either of the pickup variety or during celebrity games. In fact, Common has even given professional player Dwayne Wade a run for his money in recent years. 

Kanye West may not be as tall as the previous two entries but he has a history in basketball. The rapper played in a varsity team in high school.

Like Common and Cole, the pull of music was too strong for West to deny, and in fact, he made the right choice because the rapper is widely regarded as one of, if not the most important musical artist in Hip-Hop and beyond.

Still, one’s first love is hard to shut out, and the rapper still plays basketball regularly though as only a pickup game than in any professional variety. 

West’s ties to sports are now in more lucrative channels as evidenced by his former deal with the clothing company Adidas which once made Yeezy shoes that the rapper designed himself.

Rap NBA players include Dave East who was once known as a basketball savant. East is best friends with popular NBA player Kevin Durant.

East even played professionally with Durant back during his time in the Amateur Athletic Union. Not only Durant, but many future NBA players like Ty Lawson and Greivis Vasquez would play with East.

However, as with the others on this list, East would decline a career in basketball. Unlike them though, the rapper’s decision to leave the sport had concrete causes as he had many issues with the coaching staff when he was at Towson University, and even ended up dropping out.

The fact that East is on this list means that his life went on track. The rapper is a superstar and continues to be close friends with his old teammates.

Rapper 2 Chainz basketball game consisted of a college career in the sport. Chainz played for Alabama State University.

The rapper’s basketball career would last for two seasons from 1995 to 1997. In the two seasons, he played at the university, the rapper would play in 35 games and average out over two points per game, though he showed positional flexibility.

Though the rapper had a successful career, he wasn’t able to make the most of it due to the fact that he had to transfer to and back from Virginia State University during his college career.

Still, the rapper has a continued love for basketball and often references it in his music. In fact, his fifth studio album Rap or Go to the League heavily carries basketball themes in relation to Hip Hop.

The Game is a controversial rapper hailing from Compton, Los Angeles. The rapper used to play ball when he was in Compton High School.

According to Busting Brackets, the rapper’s high school career was filled with 14.6 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists per game, especially in his senior year. Not only Game but his entire team was filled with star players as all but he ended up playing in the NBA.

Some of Game’s peers who ended up playing professionally are Baron Davis, Tyson Chandler, and Tayshaun Prince. Though the rapper never joined the NBA, he was offered a basketball scholarship to play for Washinton State University.

Sadly, the rapper had to drop out after one semester due to a substance charge that caused him to sidetrack his basketball career.

Master P is an American rapper and record executive known for heading No Limit Records. P was also a successful basketball player in high school.

The rapper used to play basketball in both of the high schools he went to: Booker T. Washington and Warren Easton High School. In fact, his skills were so good that he was given an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Houston.

Sadly, the rapper had to drop out just months after the start of his freshman year, but would eventually transfer to Merritt College in Oakland. 

Of all the rappers on this list, P is the only one who has played in an official NBA game as he played for two teams preseason. Those two teams are the Raptors and Hornets, though both cut him before the season’s start.

Cam’Ron was once the King of New York rap back in the early to mid-2000s. The rapper also ruled the high school basketball circuit. 

As a student of the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, Cam was one of the most promising young basketball players alongside his friend and rap peer Mase. Sadly, due to his poor academic standing, the rapper could not take advantage of scholarship offers from colleges.

With no hope of a college career and even his high school education in threat of jeopardy, the rapper turned to selling substances and eventually started rapping once he met the Notorious B.I.G.

Through Biggie, Cam met Lance Rivera who signed him to Untertainment, and thus began a decade of lucrative rapping. 

Mase is also a New York rapper like Cam’Ron and saw success at a similar time. The two went to the same high school.

As stated above, Mase was also one of the most prominent young basketball players at his high school but suffered from poor academic standing too. Unlike Cam, Mase’s desire to play professionally led him to try to the point he attended the State University of New York at Purchase.

Sadly, his trying would be for naught for while in college, but Mase realized his chances of making it in the NBA were slim. So, he decided to focus on writing songs and producing music until he eventually dropped out to focus on music full-time.

Alongside Cam, Mase is one of the most popular rappers of his era, so his struggle did pay off, but in a different field.

Quavo is a popular rapper known for being one-third of the group Migos. Outside of music, the rapper is known for being a great basketball player.

Unlike the other members of this list, Quavo played football while he was in high school, though he played pickup basketball, both when he was younger and now.

The reason he is on this list is due to the fact that he stole the show when he appeared in the 2018 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game where his 19-point performance led to a victory, and the rapper won an MVP Award.

Since then, he has appeared in the 2019 and 2020 games too and has done so well in both that he is the poster child for rappers who are also good at playing basketball.