Janelle Monáe’s NBA All-Star Celebrity Game Training Is Going… Well?

As a certified hoop junkie, I have to say: Hoop skills trainers have become a plague on social media. While many offer a useful, helpful, and arguably needed service, others have become a little too obsessed with engagement (which can lead to employment, fair enough) and begun incorporating some truly ridiculous drills, props, and suggestions into their videos.

And yet, somehow, Janelle Monáe would still have been better off with one of them than who she actually got for her NBA All-Star Celebrity Game training regimen. Cream E Biggums is a well-known basketball influencer whose humorous videos make excellent use of his roly-poly figure to juxtapose some truly goofy basketball form with what one might expect from a pro player.

Here’s Janelle showing off her training with Biggums in matching workout ensembles — right down to the probably not totally necessary goggles. Let’s just say if she tries to pull these moves in the actual game, nobody is going to be making Allen Iverson comparisons.

(In reality, Biggums is a side project of comedian Anthony “Spice” Adams, who actually was a professional athlete at one point, albeit in a different sport. He played three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and another four with the Chicago Bears prior to his flourishing comedy career.)

The whole thing’s pretty funny and a prime example of Monáe’s sense of humor, which is perfectly honed for social media these days. Let’s just hope someone gives her a pair of real hoop shoes before the game because those Air Max 270s are not it — although they are better than the big red boots.