Rapper 50 Cent Makes Bold Statement About Minnesota Timberwolves, ‘Lifting Curse’ On The Team
The 2023-2024 Minnesota Timberwolves have been enjoying one of their best seasons in team history. The team has spent the majority of the season in a competition for supremacy at the top of the Western Conference.
While many Minnesotans are enjoying the best season the Timberwolves have played in 20 years, flashbacks to that magical 2003-2004 season ending shy of an NBA Finals appearance combined with general Minnesota pro sports trauma, call me cautiously optimistic about this season.
Besides the Timberwolves' lackluster postseason appearances in recent years, there's a lot of other Minnesota fan disappointment to go around. Whether it's the Minnesota Wild's overwhelming one-and-done playoff reputation in recent memory, the Twins having an over 20-year stretch of not winning a playoff series (that they finally broke in 2023), and the Vikings being, well, the Vikings...it's been kind of rough.
Rapper 50 Cent is jumping on the Minnesota Timberwolves hype train, though, with no question about this season.
50 Cent was in Minnesota over the weekend, watching the Timberwolves defeat the Houston Rockets 111-90 while also in town to promote his liquor brand at Target Center.
Impressed by the team's play in their 21-point win, 50 shared his prediction for the Timberwolves this season - saying he thinks they're going all the way to win the NBA Championship! They've been a great team so far this season, but any discerning Minnesota fan is probably a little more cautious about their hopes.
50 Cent tweeted his optimism for the team, sharing that he told team owner Alex Rodriguez he thinks the team could win it all. A-Rod's response was something. He commented "50 you know, you're an oddly smart guy" before agreeing.
As I mentioned, 50 Cent was in town to promote his liquor brand Sire Spirits, which has a bar at Target Center. The team shared a video of 50 while he was at the game, meeting fans, sitting in the stands, and even sporting a Minnesota Timberwolves hat.
During the video, he declared the team's going to "win the ship" and when they do so, the team will give him a ring because they won't be stingy, jokingly noting "A-Rod wouldn't do that to me." 50 later commented about how he's breaking the curse Ja Rule put on the team.
If you don't remember what he's talking about, Ja Rule had a 2019 halftime performance during a Milwaukee Bucks game that didn't go very well, and the Timberwolves official social media got involved.
Ja's performance was just downright awkward, starting off with some technical issues and an awkward comment about being a 2000s artist and being there for 90's night. The crowd just didn't seem into the performance. It was...something.
So the Timberwolves jumped in on the situation, saying "We too were hustled, scammed, bamboozled, hood winked, lead astray!!!" Ja Rule fired back by placing a 30-year curse on the team, also saying Karl-Anthon Towns would leave.
The Timberwolves shared a video of 50 Cent in March of 2023 saying he was going to lift the curse Ja Rule put on the team.
That curse-breaking was part of 50 Cent's partnership with the Timberwolves and Lynx, placing a bar featuring his liquor brand in Target Center.
In the season following this, the team has been playing better! While my inner Minnesota sports fan is cautiously optimistic, maybe getting 50 Cent on the side of the Timberwolves is what it will take to get the team their first-ever championship!
Check out this massive Airbnb in Minnesota that has an indoor basketball court!
Gallery Credit: Jessica Williams