Last month, rapper/producer Jay-Z began selling off his share of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. The move was part of the artist’s launch of his Roc Nation Sports venture, a new sports representation company. Jay-Z is reportedly looking to becoming a certified sports agent, and an ownership stake in an NBA team would be a conflict of intrest.
Other sports agents have worried that Jay-Z’s name and media experience could lure away big clients, and it appears they were right to worry. A report on NBC Sports this week stated that New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith has taken a meeting with Roc Nation, in addition to other agencies.
Citing “a source with knowledge of the situation,” the NBC report states that Smith, who is looking for new representation, met with Joel Segal, Priority Sports, Eugene Parker, Fletcher Smith, and Roc Nation. Jay-Z is not yet a certified sports agent, and was not the Roc Nation representative who gave the company’s presentation to Smith.
Smith has not publicly commented on his agent shopping. Unless, that is, his latest (bizarre) tweet is some sort of code and not simply a mistake:
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