Gillie Da Kid has claimed that the NBA screwed him out of appearing at the 2024 All-Star Celebrity Game.
Appearing on former NBA stars Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All the Smoke podcast, the rapper-turned-media personality aired out his grievances with the basketball league.
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“The celebrity game would get more views than the All-Star Game but they won’t put me in there,” he said. “Our assistant was talking to people from the league. I was told that I was playing in the game and I was going to be mic’d up. The muthafucking list came out with the players and I wasn’t on it.”
Jackson then suggested that Gillie was snubbed because he played in Ice Cube’s BIG3 All-Star Game, to which the Million Dollaz Worth of Game host joked: “So you mean to tell me it’s because I was MVP two years in a row in the African American league?”
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He added: “So you telling me that the MVP of the Negro League can’t get no [love]? So you saying I’m Blackie Robinson?”
Hear Gillie’s comments at the 24:36 mark below.
There have been much publicized issues between the NBA and BIG3, with Ice Cube accusing the NBA of trying to sabotage his three-on-three legends league.
Cube alleged to Joe Rogan last year: “We’re not trying to compete in any shape or form with the NBA. We’re very complimentary. So I don’t understand the things that’s being done behind the scenes. Encouraging people to not sponsor us. Encouraging networks not to play us.”
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The NBA are also being investigated by the U.S. government in relation to the claims that they violated antitrust laws.
Through a spokesperson, the NBA denied the allegations, saying: “Those claims are not true. We have been supportive of the BIG3 since its inception, but we declined to invest.”
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Cube pushed back by claiming that they never asked for the NBA to invest in the league.
“Correction: BIG3 never asked the NBA to invest, we just want them to stop pressuring individuals and corporations not to invest in the BIG3. They must be stopped,” he wrote on X.
Cam’ron also addressed Gillie Da Kid’s absence from the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game during an episode of his and Ma$e‘s sports show It Is What It Is on Monday (February 19).
“I didn’t watch that shit, man,” he admitted. “All-Star Weekend been slacking for years. There’s no reason that Gillie shouldn’t have been playing in the Celebrity All-Star Game. There’s no reason in the world. That man got MPV in the BIG3 back to back.”
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The Harlem native, who was a standout basketball player in high school, also revealed that he was asked to play in this year’s game but declined the invitation.
“They called me to do that shit. I had other prior obligations that stopped me from getting in shape that I need to be in,” he said. “I would’ve loved to play, but I’m nowhere near full-court shape to play 48 minutes.”
