The Masked Singer: There may be an NBA champion behind a mask

A former Los Angeles Laker may be in the mix on FOX’s The Masked Singer.

Clues may be indicating there is an NBA champion performing on FOX.

In episode two of The Masked Singer season four, a character named WHATCHAMACALLIT was introduced. With Mickey Rourke, as Gremlin, being the first ever contestant to eliminate themself by unmasking before the judges made their decision, WHATCHAMACALLIT will be performing at least once more on the FOX original series.

So who is inside this character?

The one-eyed monster rapped the lyrics of “I Wish” by Skee-Lo and was praised by Nicole Scherzinger for his stage presence. The confidence definitely rings as a person with the accolades of an NBA champion. Perhaps this could be the former Los Angeles Laker and Indiana Pacer Metta Sandiford-Artest, formerly known as Metta World Peace and before the summer of 2011 as his birth name Ronald “Ron” Artest Jr.

How Sandiford-Artest Fits the Bill

Several hints mentioned during the clue package do scream Sandiford-Artest. One, suggesting how people may think this celebrity is shy because, “I let others absorb my spotlight,” serves as compelling evidence. In Sandiford-Artest’s NBA career, he was always a supporting cast player. In his days with the Pacers, he was named an NBA All-Star and won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year honor in 2004. However, he was overshadowed by his then NBA Hall of Fame teammate, Reggie Miller. With the Lakers, he would win his one and only NBA championship in 2010 as the team’s starting small forward. Then, he played with NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who Magic Johnson calls the best Laker ever.

Three correlations to the former hooper can clearly be made when the narrator says, “I can dance with the stars, surf candy bars, buzz with the bees, and swing from the keys.” Sandiford-Artest was a contestant on season 13 of Dancing with the Stars (2011) and a guest star on the CBS crime drama Hawaii Five-O. The swinging from the keys could be a double entendre for both his dunking ability from the key and a CBS Big Brother reference. (He was a contestant on season one of the U.S. spin-off Celebrity Big Brother.) The reality competition show uses keys as a prop for the houseguest contestants, and contestants also use a key prop to vote for the winner on the season finale. As far as buzzing with the bees, the Queens, New York, product was never one to shy away from confrontation on the basketball court.

Scherzinger did praise the furry character for his rap flow. Well, Sandiford-Artest did release a two-track EP in 2011 titled Go Loco. The song of the same EP title features Grammy Award nominee Fat Joe and a cameo by comedian George Lopez.

Perhaps the biggest nugget in the clue package was showing a creative analog clock while the narrator says, “I don’t want to be here today and be gone tomorrow.” This could have been a tribute to his late favorite teammate, Bryant. The decorative clock had a gold “7” very close to “8.” Eight was Bryant’s original Lakers jersey number and ‘78 was the year he was born. The little hand pointing up to a “2” could represent Bryant’s daughter, Gianna, as No. 2 was her favorite number.  There was also a triangle on the clock, which could correlate to his former Laker coach, Phil Jackson, who infamously ran the triangle offense. Finally, the cuckoo-clock sound during that last clue is similar to the beginning of his track “Go Loco.”

With many signs pointing to Sandiford-Artest as this contestant, there will be at least one more clue package and performance from this character before he’s revealed. For the man who has legally changed his named twice, what better anonymous stage name to have on The Masked Singer than WHATCHAMACALLIT?

Who do you think is behind WHATCHAMACALLIT‘s mask on The Masked Singer? Tell us your thoughts and theories below!