Jay-Z becomes officially licensed basketball agent

Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z has been licensed by the National Basketball Players Association as eligible to represent NBA players as a sports agent.

Speculation arose in April regarding Jay’s plans to sell his minority stake in the Brooklyn Nets so that his company Roc Nation Sports could enter the representation business. Now he has, alongside RNS President Juan Perez, been certified to represent athletes in contract negotiations with franchises.

Oklahoma City Thunder star and Olympic gold medallist Kevin Durant looks likely to be the first signing to the agency, with Major League Baseball players also set to follow if RNS’s applications to the MLBPA are similarly accepted. Conflicting reports remain about whether or not Hova has actually yet sold his Nets shares, with ESPN saying that as recently as Wednesday there was no sign of him having done so.

One player unlikely to join Roc Nation Sports, however, is Nets’ man Kris Humphries, who famously dated Kim Kardashian. Jay’s friend and father to Kim’s newly-born daughter, Kanye West has formerly alluded to the situation in his track ‘Cold’, with the lines: “Lucky I ain’t had Jay drop him from the team / La Familia, Roc Nation”

Jay-Z’s upcoming album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, was announced this month via a commercial broadcast during an NBA game.