Basketball players want to be rappers and fashion designers, and we guess basketball newsletters want to be rap and fashion newsletters, because today we’re gonna do a little hoop-themed coverage of those areas!

Today’s Lineup

🎵 J. Cole Basketball Bars

J. Cole’s new album Might Delete Later, his song “Pi” features an interesting basketball line: “Seen plenty bodies trembling, resembling Cam Reddish. So full of potential, but never given a real chance to develop." NBA and rap fans have pointed out that Cam did get a lot of run for the Hawks for a few years, but this bar had us thinking back to our other favorite Cole verses about the 🏀 game we love…

This is our favorite quote of the bunch because it embodies the message of Enjoy Basketball. People try to solve the GOAT debate by putting either Michael Jordan or LeBron James down, but why can’t we just say they’re both legendary in their own ways? Cole gets it 💯 

Those 2007 Cavs which made a Finals run is remembered as “LeBron and the others” and yes, Drew Gooden was one of those other dudes. Still we appreciate how Cole acknowledges it’s okay to just be Good(en) sometimes—after all, Gooden was a solid role player over his 14-year career. But Cole strives for goatliness like Jordan, Bron, and legendary coach John Wooden, and we can do the same! 😁

Nothing was better than getting lost in your hoop dreams, mimicking your favorite player’s moves and wanting to be them when you grew older. We love J Cole’s reference to SLAM, the magazine which was basically the basketball gospel with its iconic covers and interviews. Cole’s generation idolized Jordan and Kobe, though Anthony Edwards’ new “Poster Child” cover on SLAM might make kids try to get like the Ant Man 🐜 

👟 Curry’s Cool Colorways

Ever since Steph Curry signed with Under Armour 2013, he has pioneered the brand’s basketball sneaker division and is now on his 11th model of the Curry line (wow… that makes us feel old). But we wanted to highlight two new colorways of the Curry 11 because we LOVE the meaning behind them—one for a wholesome reason, another because it is flat out goofy 😂 

First up, Steph and UA just dropped a new colorway called “Mouthguard” inspired by the Baby Faced Assassin’s signature accessory. Whether he’s chewing on it or throwing it across the court, Curry re-popularized the mouthguard and can now rain in 10 threes on your favorite team while chomping on that thing and wearing kicks in its honor.

Secondly, we adore this pink colorway of the Curry 11 entitled “Girl Dad.” It seems like only yesterday that little Riley Curry was goofing around at press conferences, but now Steph is the father of daughters Riley (11) and Dylan (8) as well as his son Cannon (5). Ayesha and Steph are expecting another baby this year, so Chef Curry can soon put together a starting 5 of him and his kids that may give the current Warriors a run for their money 😅

Saturday night the Memphis Grizzlies retired Marc Gasol’s #33 jersey number! In his 10 years in Memphis, Gasol made three All Star Game appearances, won the 2013 Defensive Player of the Year, and led the iconic Grit-and-Grind era in Memphis.

The Grizzlies franchise is under 30 years old, so Marc is a central piece of their history and joins fellow big Zach Randolph as the only two jerseys to get retired in Memphis. With Marc’s brother Pau having his number retired by the Lakers, the Gasol bro’s are the first pair of siblings to have their NBA jerseys retired!

Signing Off

To quote Vince Carter after the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest, it’s over ladies and gentlemen. Out of Bounds will be back in your inbox in 2 weeks, but until then we got plenty of NBA coverage coming at you tomorrow morning!

-Conor Geelan