Back In The Day NBA

Kevin Garnett Channels Dave Chappelle With Story Of Prince Playing Basketball

Shandel Richardson

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Comedian Dave Chappelle created one of the most iconic skits in 2004 when he told a story about musician Prince playing basketball.

It has since been verified Prince could indeed "ball," but NBA Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett backed the claim even more. On a recent appearance of the "All The Smoke" podcast, Garnett gave his version of playing basketball with the late Prince.

Garnett, who began his career playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves, said games took place in the middle of the night at Prince's studio called Paisley Park. Prince is a Minneapolis native.

"Everybody that's been to Paisley Park past 2:30 knows what I'm talking about," Garnett said. "We'd be in the club and bro would grab a couple of us and then you grab whoever and we out. He would do that. He would be performing and shit, too, because he had a stage."

As the Chappelle skit stated, Garnett reiterated Prince had game.

"He in there talking that cold cat shit," Garnett said. "He in there looking like Prince, hair going but it's also a concert going on."

This was the first time Garnett said he had spoke of the games with Prince. He even thanked Chappelle for bringing it to the forefront years ago. Otherwise, no one would have known about Prince's talent.

Apparently, there was a code of not discussing it publicly.

"I never talked about it because you might not get invited back," Garnett said, laughing.

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day NBA. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com