Master P Wants To Be ‘Bout It’ With NBA And Coach New Orleans Pelicans
Some hip hop moguls own basketball teams. Master P wants to be the first hip hop coach.
TMZ reports that Master P (real name Percy Miller) is interested in coaching for the New Orleans Pelicans NBA team. The Pelicans’ previous head coach, Stan Van Gundy, was recently fired after coaching for one season. The Pelicans ended the 2020-2021 season at 31-41.
"The NBA is entertainment, I think it's time for me to be the first hip-hop coach,” Master P says in a video published by TMZ Sports. “If they bring me in as a head coach or assistant coach, I think I can change the game.”
According to TMZ, the “Make ‘Em Say Ugh” rapper is specifically interested in the Pelicans’ star player Zion Williamson, who was a first round draft pick in 2019 after his freshman year at Duke. NBC Sports reported last week that Williamson’s family wants him on a different team.
"I know that I could show people like Zion, all the great players that they have on that team, they need somebody that understand them," Master P says.
He says that if he’s hired, "We'll win and Zion will be happy. … I feel like motivating the players, understanding them, that's the most important thing."
Master P is no stranger to the game and has pro basketball experience. He played preseason ball in 1998 and 1999 for Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors, and he previously coached San Antonio Spurs player DeMar Rozan at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) level. Now he wants to brush off his skills for his hometown team.
"What I know is basketball. I played in the NBA, I done coached a lot of great players that are in the league. I done took my sons from being high school athletes to maybe they'll be the next future big-time pro athletes,” he says.
Master P also claimed that he had almost joined Alvin Gentry’s staff in 2017, and had some choice words about the previous head coach.
"He should’ve done it. I think he'd still have his job if he did that," he says.
