Earlier than SOFI TUKKER crammed competition phases with their unapologetic dance anthems, Tucker Halpern was a 6’9″ basketball phenom at Brown University, carving a path toward the pros.
Basketball was his complete identity, but when a mysterious illness benched him for seven grueling months back in 2011, his plans unraveled and he withdrew from Brown. In that void—and in the throes of depression—he stumbled into electronic music, and the world got SOFI TUKKER.
Fast-forward to 2025, and Halpern is finally suiting up for the NBA—sort of. The chart-topping DJ and producer is hitting the hardwood for the 2025 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, fulfilling what he says is a lifelong dream.
“All of us develop up with loopy goals, mine was to be an NBA All-Star,” Halpern wrote on social media. “I labored for 22 years pushing myself to the bodily restrict to get as shut as I probably might, however it was out of attain for a lot of causes.”
It’s a poetic twist: the very thing that sidelined his basketball career became the catalyst for his musical success, and now music is his ticket back to the court. Halpern, who was his high school’s all-time scoring leader and a McDonald’s All-American nominee before captaining his college team at Brown, admits he’s not the athlete he once was, but that’s beside the point.
“At this time, a few years later, I get to say that music has introduced me full circle to meet my largest dream, to play within the NBA (Movie star All-Star Recreation),” Halpern continued. “If you realize me you understand how a lot this implies to me. I’m not the participant or athlete I as soon as was, however I’m doing my finest to get again into it and check out to not embarrass myself.”
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He is set to hoop in Oakland alongside Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Noah Kahan, Orange Is the New Black actor Pablo Schreiber, streamer Kai Cenat and nation music artist Shaboozey, amongst others. Halpern’s group can be coached by 2 Chainz and baseball’s all-time residence runs chief, Barry Bonds, whereas his opponents can be led by NFL legend Jerry Rice and influencer Khaby Lame.
Halpern opened up about his taking part in days in an interview with EDM.com final summer time, after we sat down with him and his SOFI TUKKER bandmate, Sophie Hawley-Weld, to debate their third album, BREAD.
“Seeing myself as an artist… it was a hard transition,” Halpern stated. “When I first told people, ‘I want to make music, I want to be a producer, I want to be a DJ, I want to be an artist,’ they kinda laughed. They’re like, ‘No, you’re in this box. You’re an athlete, you can’t do that.’ And it wasn’t until there was enough people believing in it that accepted me as an artist or accepted that I wasn’t just an athlete pretending to be an artist.”
The 2025 NBA All-Star Movie star Recreation is scheduled to air on ESPN Friday, February 14th at 7pm ET.
