Jay Z is selling his minority ownership in the Brookyn Nets to coach Jason Kidd, sources exclusively tell Page Six.
We’re told Kidd will take over Jay’s .067 percent (1/15th of a percent) stake in the team for about $500,000.
The move comes as Jay was forced to sell his Nets shares over a conflict of interest after he started a sports agency, Roc Nation, signing clients including Yankee Robinson Cano and Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant.
A source told us, “Other owners want to give Jason a part ownership of the team, and urged Jay to sell his shares to him.”
Amazingly, Jay was introduced to the team in 2003 by Drew Katz , the son of one of the Nets’ principal owners, after Kidd, then the Nets’ marquee point guard, suggested the music mogul buy the team.
According to reports, Jay helped design the team logos and choose the Nets’ stark black-and-white color scheme, and personally appealed to National Basketball Association officials to drop their objections to it.
The Times reported Jay’s influence stretched so far, he courted top players to join the team and even counseled execs on music to play during games.
“He is it,” Bruce Ratner, the Barclays Center developer, said in an interview. “He is us. He is how people are going to see that place.”
Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov bought 80 percent ownership of the team in 2009 and appeared on billboards with Jay.
Meanwhile, Kidd, who signed on as Nets coach in June, added to an impressive lineup including Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Brook Lopez.
We’re told that, unlike Jay, the coach owning minority shares in the team would not be seen as a conflict of interest.
A rep for the Nets had no comment, and Kidd’s spokesman, Nets VP of public relations Gary Sussman also declined to comment.
Reps for Jay Z didn’t get back to us.