Jay-Z, a minority owner of his hometown Brooklyn Nets, has begun the process of selling his stake in the team so that he can become an NBA agent, according to a Yahoo! report.
ESPN’s Darren Rovell tweeted that Jay-Z’s .067 percent (1/15th of a percent) stake in the Nets is worth approximately $350,000, and he could sell it tomorrow if he wanted to.
Jay-Z would be required to relinquish his stake in the team in order to represent NBA clients as an agent. Rovell reports that the league told him he had to sell after he announced his desire to become an agent.
“It would be disappointing [if he left],” Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said to Yahoo! “I’d be disappointed.
“He had an enormous amount to do with the rebranding of the team. I wasn’t close to it at all, but from what I’ve seen, it would be hard to overstate his importance in this all. I like his involvement in the team; he’s at the games, and maybe he’s around more than I realize behind the scenes. But he’s an excellent fan, one that wasn’t just around this year, but a lot in the past too, which is very telling to me.”
Nets CEO Brett Yormark would not comment.
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation recently partnered with Creative Artist Agency (CAA) and landed New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano as his first client.
Curtis Bunn, AtlantaBlackStar
