Actor Leon’s shocking attempt to seduce Grant Hill with his gang ends in fiasco with his wife Tamia

The New York Knicks lost their likelihood to sign two-time NCAA champion Grant Hill after the 1999-2000 season. In a remastered clip, Grant explained the unexpected reason he stayed in Detroit.

Hill, 51, appeared on the “All The Smoke” podcast with former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson in June 2022. During the conversation, Hill mentioned the Knicks trying to recruit him.

In 2000, Grant Hill invited Knicks representatives to Detroit for free-agent negotiations. According to Hill, the franchise played a tape featuring celebrities resembling comedian Jerry Seinfeld and actor Leon Robinson to persuade him to join the team.

“I always wanted to play in New York,” Hill told Barnes and Jackson. “So Leon… is on the record. He’s like, ‘Gosh, you think the women in Detroit are nice, wait until you get to New York.’”

The Atlanta Hawks co-owner continued: “Tamia said, ‘Oh, hell no! Turn that tape off!’ To this day she says, ‘You’d think New York would have watched the tape.’ So New York didn’t happen.”

Hill previously spoke about how Leon’s idea discouraged Tamia from moving to the Big Apple. The New York Daily News quoted his story from May 2010. article.

“When I think about it now, it was funny,” Hill said. “(Leon) told me that if I came to New York, I would have a lot of women. My wife just looked at me. She didn’t smile.”

Ultimately, the Detroit Pistons prolonged Hill’s contract to seven years price $92.8 million after which traded him to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Chucky Atkins and Ben Wallace.

Grant Hill played only 47 games for the Magic in his first three years in Orlando due to an ankle injury, missing the complete 2003-04 season.

The 1995 NBA Co-Rookie of the Year winner played six seasons with the Magic before signing with the Phoenix Suns in 2007. He also played 29 games for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2012-13.

Grant Hill married Canadian R&B singer Tamia in July 1999. The celebrity couple has two children: 22-year-old MMA fighter Myla’s Hill and a 17-year-old college football player Lael Rose Hill.

Grant Hill credits one other R&B singer with helping Tamia eventually change into his wife. Another Detroit Pistons star, Isiah Thomas T-shirt farewell ceremony In 1996, the national anthem was sung by Grammy Award winner Anita Baker.

During his performance on “All The Smoke,” Hill recalled meeting Baker at a celebration for a Thomas tribute, and the Duke University graduate credited the “Rapture” artist with planting the seeds that inspired his relationship with Tamia.

Baker met Tamia on the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards and suggested that Grant Hill could be a superb romantic match for the “Missing You” singer. Hill stated, “It’s a good story that Anita put us together. That’s partly true.”

Hill finished his 18-season NBA profession with 17,137 points, 6,169 rebounds and 4,252 assists. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a part of the 2018 class.