Tobias Harris, Philadelphia 76ers, has always been a famous player for a famous doppelgänger. The Islip, a New York-born hooper, has always reminded some NBA fans of platinum selling rap artist J. Cole.
Harris is not upset by the comparisons. Ever since he’s been on the Detroit Pistons, Tobias Harris has heard a lot about how he looks like J. Cole even though the rapper has a very different hairstyle these days, ga make it harder to buy into the comparisons.
But NBA Tuesday host TNT Adam Lefkoe took it a step later this week. Not only does he believe Harris and J. Cole look similar – he also thinks they look similar too. So, after the Sixers took on the Golden State Warriors on TNT on Tuesday night, Lefkoe had a chance to shoot his shot and try to get Harris to quote J. Cole’s words.
“Tobias, before we let you go, I have one request,” Lefkoe said. “Can you say, ‘There is no such thing as a better life than your own? ” When Lefkoe said the words from Cole’s popular track ‘Love Yourz‘far an Forest Mountains Trail 2014 album, it must not have sold well enough for Harris, who didn’t understand what exactly was going on.
Harris said the phrase, as requested, but the exchange between Lefkoe and the Sixers was awful. At first glance it seemed that Harris was probably embarrassed as he had just wrapped up a tight game on the road and had to hear that he looked and felt like J Cole for the millionth time.
However, that is not what made Harris recite the words so off and so strange. Late Tuesday night (or early Wednesday morning for the people of the East Coast), Harris took to Twitter to explain what went wrong in the interview.
As it turned out, Harris did not catch up to what was going on at that very moment. Instead of reciting the lyrics, Harris felt he was asked to do repeat sequences for a live Life Vest ad on TV after the game.
Harris finally got ahead and couldn’t get that headset off anytime soon. The interview was weird but funny because Harris had a good time with him. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned, Tobias Harris probably wouldn’t be a good voice choice for commercials – and Adam Lefkoe isn’t particularly good at reporting rap lyrics.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.