Prince: The Basketball Fan

The recent death of legendary musician Prince affected people from every walk of life, not just those who loved his music. This includes figures in the basketball world, thanks to his ubiquitous and unremitting love of the game. His two hometown (and favorite) basketball teams, the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, even released statements on his passing last week to honor their biggest fan from the music world: 

“Today we lost a local icon, legend and musical innovator. Prince represented Minnesota with grace, passion and a hunger for helping others. Over the years be became a huge Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx fan, attending numerous games and even treating our Lynx players and staff with a private concert at Paisley Park after winning the WNBA Championship this past fall. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy, especially the Prince family."

When Dave Chappelle’s seminal comedy sketch about the Purple One hooping it up first aired in 2004, many music lovers got their first taste of the self-proclaimed Messiah’s basketball talents. He wasn't just a musician who happened to enjoy the sport. Prince had game. And, apparently, lots of it to spare.

Despite his androgynous aesthetic, tiny frame, and musical focus, Prince was still a dude who thrived on ballin’ with his friends, draining jumpers for therapeutic purposes, and talking shit after breaking someone’s ankles. 

To honor the late musician’s basketball side, we compiled a list of Prince’s greatest roundball-related moments—high heels, blouses, and all.

In early March, Prince had a tour date at Oracle Arena in Oakland. When he appeared at the Thunder-Warriors game the night before, he was immediately spotted and given a standing ovation. This goes to show his omnipotence because wherever he showed up in public, people would either stand up or immediately applaud him like he was a gospel song performed at The Apollo’s Amateur Night. 

On the following evening at Oracle, The Artist gave a brief definition of what greatness means when he co-signed Steph Curry to the crowd during a song at his show. Giving props to the Bay Area hero made the crowd go bananas. 

Prince was a music prodigy by the time he was in the seventh grade. But he was also a bonafide baller by that same age. He excelled as a point guard for the Bryant Junior High basketball team in his native Minneapolis. Two years later, he was playing on the junior varsity team at Central High and was the assistant coach of his church’s grammar school team. 

According to his high school basketball coach Richard Robinson, Prince could really get busy on the hardwood and blacktop. “Prince was an excellent player,” said Robinson. “Excellent ball handler, good shooter, but too short to crack the starting lineup.” 

And, yes, Prince was the “put me in coach” guy. “I knew he wanted to be starting and felt he should be starting. He was unhappy and expressed that many, many times,” Robinson affirmed.

Robinson even rehashed his story about Prince playing in high school to TMZ when he told them that Prince “was quite a good basketball player, but I gave him less playing time because he always threw the ball away. The more turnovers he got, the less time he played.” Being undersized, having a less than stellar assist-to-turnover ratio didn't help his cause for more minutes.

This one doesn't necessarily pertain to Prince playing the game, but rather paying an NBA player a big check after he doused the player’s entire home in his purple aura. In 2015, former Lakers forward/center Carlos Boozer went on a podcast to discuss the time he rented out his house to Prince for a few days while he was in Los Angeles doing concerts in the area. When Boozer returned to his home, he noticed how everything in the home was wall-to-wall purple, adorned with ornaments that Prince handpicked himself.