The NBA has fined the Nets $50,000 for Jay-Z’s impromptu visit to the Kentucky locker room following Kentucky’s victory over North Carolina in the Elite Eight in Newark March 27, an NBA source told SNY.tv Friday.
Jay-Z appeared in the Wildcats locker room and met with potential lottery picks Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones, as well as Darius Miller and Josh Harrellson.
Jay-Z is a part owner of the Nets, who play at The Rock.
“I said, ‘Oh that’s Jay-Z!” Jones told one Kentucky basketball blog. “We all gave him a handshake and he came in the locker room, and we just kept screaming ‘Jay-Z in the locker room!’ He congratulated us, just said he was proud of us.”
Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge was fined $30,000 in 2007 for a similar incident where he sat with Kevin Durant’s mother in the stands during the Big 12 Tournament prior to Durant’s declaration that he would leave Texas for the NBA.
(Photo courtesy identityinkblogspot.com)