Growing up in the projects of Río Piedras in San Juan, Ozuna had hoop dreams, playing on neighborhood courts until he finally accepted he would never be tall enough to go pro. His younger brother José Ginés, on the other hand, grew right past him and was eventually drafted in 2020 to play in the territory’s premier basketball division: the BSN, or Baloncesto Superior Nacional.
By then, Ozuna had left the projects far behind and become one of the world’s top reggaetón stars. And in 2022, he became the sole owner of BSN’s Los Brujos de Guayama, an underfunded team located far from San Juan. Ozuna moved it to the bigger city of Manatí and renamed it Osos de Manatí (the Manatí Bears, in a nod to his fondness for the animal). Within a year, it rose from last in the league to second place in the 2024 BSN championship.
“Those players needed a push from someone who was listening to them so they’d know there are bigger opportunities,” says Ozuna, who also hired his brother away from a previous team to play for Los Osos. “And I’m teaching them how to set goals and grow, and yes, maybe one day get to the NBA.”
Ozuna is one of three huge reggaetón artists who in the past few years have acquired ownership in local BSN teams in Puerto Rico. In 2021, Bad Bunny joined manager Noah Assad and Rimas executive Jonathan Miranda in acquiring Los Cangrejeros de Santurce, and the same year, Anuel and his then-manager, Frabian Eli, purchased Los Capitanes de Arecibo. Though Anuel and Eli have since split up and ceded their team ownership, the three artists’ combined star power has reinvigorated a languishing Puerto Rican basketball scene.
While Ozuna put Los Osos on the map, Assad, Miranda and Bad Bunny literally revived Los Cangrejeros, who had been on hiatus since 2016. “We were approached by J.J. Barea, who said he wanted to play his last seasons in front of his home fans in Puerto Rico,” Assad explains. Owning the team, he says, is another way for him, Miranda and Bad Bunny to bring people together. “Puerto Rico is all about family. Just having the team has a positive impact.”
Ozuna has now also bought a minor league team, and he has a development team where kids train from 6 years old until the juniors level. “It’s like a basketball farm,” he says. “We have about 160 kids playing on 10 teams. We pay their transport, their snacks. The vision is for them to realize they have to work in steps to make it big. There’s a lot of talent here, but it wasn’t on display until we came along.”
Other artists outside Puerto Rico are apparently following his example. In January, Colombian rapper Ryan Castro announced he was acquiring a significant stake in Paisas Basketball Club, a professional team in his hometown of Medellín. “It’s another facet for us as entrepreneurs — supporting sports — because the kids in the barrios have the same dreams as us, the artists,” Castro tells Billboard. The same month, Colombian reggaetón star Blessd acquired a stake in Vendsyssel FF, a European second division soccer team.
Castro says his impetus for investing in a team came from his own love of the sport, much like Ozuna, who admits he didn’t have the tools to make it big himself. “Now I can do it for someone else. But it’s not about making money. It’s about love for basketball.”
This story appears in the Feb. 8, 2025, issue of Billboard.
