The Delaware 87ers, the D-League affiliate of the Philadelphia 76ers, are hosting open tryouts for anybody on September 19th in New Castle, DE. Plenty of other D-League teams have hosted tryouts before in the hopes they find a player who didn't go pro that can make an impact for their team.
However, the 87ers decided to do something a little bit different for their open tryouts. They extended an offer to Lil B, a rapper from Berkley, California, to come out and try out for the team via Twitter. Lil B replied to the tweet saying he accepted the offer and would be there for the open tryouts.
Lil B has made waves around the NBA before with his alter ego, The Based God. The Based God has been known to place curses on people that have feuds with Lil B. Back in 2011, Kevin Durant posted a tweet that questioned Lil B's popularity. Lil B replied with a tweet of his own, which stated that Durant would never win an NBA championship as a part of his Based God curse. People believed the curse to be true, as Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder made it to the NBA Finals the very next year and lost to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in five games. Lil B has stated that he will lift the Based God curse if he plays him in a game of one-on-one. Durant has yet to respond to the request.
The Based God curse was also made relevant during the 2015 playoffs, but not because of Kevin Durant. Lil B noticed that James Harden's famous "cooking dance" was similar to one Lil B had been doing and said if Harden did not acknowledge that Lil B did the dance first and his was in reference to Lil B's, then the Based God curse would fall apon him. Harden never responded, and Lil B bestowed the curse upon him before Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors, Lil B's favorite team.
The Houston Rockets would go on the lose that game and the series, while Harden turned the ball over thirteen times, a record for most turnovers in a playoff game. Harden soon told reporters he did not know who Lil B was, which many fans thought was a lie given his popularity. Lil B did lift the Based God curse off of him, despite the potential lie.
If there is one way to not have the Based God curse bestowed on your favorite team or player, it is to invite Lil B to try out for your D-League team.
This is not the first time Lil B and the Sixers organization have interacted on Twitter. The Sixers followed Lil B back in May of this year, to which he tweeted about the situation.
Does this mean Lil B will place the Based God curse on the rest of the Atlantic Division? Or potentially place a Based God Blessing for the Sixers to win? For now, the basketball world is waiting to see how the tryout goes. Maybe if he does well enough, Sam Hinkie will sign him and trade him for two future round picks.