Why Nets' James Harden was detained, rapper Lil Baby arrested in Paris

Jacob Camenker

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Why Nets' James Harden was detained, rapper Lil Baby arrested in Paris image

Nets guard James Harden was briefly detained and frisked by police in Paris on Thursday while apparently trying to speak up on behalf of rapper Lil Baby. This came after police searched Lil Baby's car, which smelled like cannabis, a banned substance in France.

The incident at about 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET) was caught on camera. Harden said during the short video, "You know, it's OK, I don't understand." ESPN reported that Harden was standing on the street when the car was stopped. 

Harden was "not arrested nor placed in custody," the prosecutor's office in Paris said (per CBS News), but Lil Baby, (real name Dominique Jones) was arrested along with an unidentified man and charged with transporting drugs.

ESPN reported that police discovered 20 grams of cannabis in the car.

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Lil Baby and Harden are friendly and share a mutual bond over music.

"He got a real ear for music," Lil Baby said of Harden to Billboard. "That's how me and him linked on another level. He really into music."

The Nets star and the Atlanta rapper were spotted together earlier Thursday. They also hung out with Kanye West on Wednesday night.

The NBA and the Nets have not commented on the incident.

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.