Albert Pujols Is Back –– To Play in the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game

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Ben Munson/St. Louis Cardinals

Soon enough, we will have Albert Pujols basketball photos to put here.

It’s already been four months since Albert Pujols retired from baseball and guess what, we already miss him. (Please come back?)

But he is just full of surprises. 

In a reverse Michael Jordan, Pujols is returning to the bright lights again but this time … for basketball.

Tonight, at 6 p.m., Pujols will participate in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game in Salt Lake City. The game will air on ESPN.

The annual game, which kicks off with this weekend’s NBA All-Star festivities, features a contest between ex-NBA players, WNBA players, movie stars, comedians, musicians and other athletes. 

Pujols will compete for Team Ryan — named after honorary captain and Utah Governor Ryan Smith — joined by the likes of Hall of Fame NFL player Calvin Johnson, rapper Cordae and Jimmy Kimmel Live star Guillermo Rodriguez.

They will take on Team Dwyane, named after honorary captain and former NBA star Dwayne Wade, featuring NFL player DK Metcalf, rapper 21 Savage, comedian Hasan Minhaj and actress Janelle Monáe. 

If you’re surprised to hear Pujols plays basketball, we are too. We tried to do some scouting on Pujols before the game to know what to expect. But outside of his annual charity basketball game for the Pujols Family Foundation, we couldn’t find much.

We’ll just have to wait and see. But, hey, remember when Pujols returned to the St. Louis Cardinals, 10 years after he left, had one of the best seasons of his career, and hit the 700 homerun mark that no one saw coming? Yeah, we remember and after that, if Pujols pulls up tonight and drops a calm 30, none of us in St. Louis will be surprised.

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