Jay-z Sets 2010 Deadline For New Jersey Nets Move

Hip-hop entrepreneur JAY-Z is aiming to move his basketball team the New Jersey Nets to his native Brooklyn, New York by the end of next year (10).

The rapper owns a large share in the NBA team and has previously expressed his desire to relocate the sporting side to the Big Apple.

His plans have been hampered by a number of legal delays, but Jay-Z reveals progress is being made and he’s looking to unveil the Nets’ new home in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Prospect Heights by December 2010.

He says, “We’re trying to get to Brooklyn, I think in early December (we’ll start building the new stadium)… (It’ll take) hopefully a year (to complete).”

The 99 Problems hitmaker wants the team’s new move to be coupled with a new name - the Brooklyn Nets - and he’s keen to add his pal LeBron James to the line-up when the basketball ace’s contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers is up.

But Jay-Z insists he will not pressure James into switching teams: “We’ll have a great team surrounding him so hopefully he’ll come to Brooklyn.

“He’s my friend first so I wouldn’t do that to him if we didn’t have a chance of winning (the NBA championship) because he’s going to be great. I want him to be great. Whatever team lands him, I want him to be great.”