Master P Says He Didn't Dupe Ricky Williams, He WANTED That Contract

Master P says Ricky Williams called the shots when it came to putting together his infamous 1999 NFL rookie contract and all he did was help the Heisman winner get the deal HE wanted.

Master P joined the guys on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs Friday night on FS1) -- and explained how the deal got done when Williams was a client at P's No Limit Sports agency.

"Ricky was the type of guy that ... he wanted to do what he wanted to do," P explained.

"I mean he wanted $8 mil up front. He didn't care what the incentives was. If he didn't do that deal with me he was gonna do it with somebody else."

"He was poor. He didn't have any money. He needed the money up front and he thought that $8 million ... he was going to turn it into something else. He had some other business ideas."

FYI, the contract famously contained a max value of $68 MILLION -- but only if Ricky hit some spectacularly tough to achieve performance incentives.

It's been criticized as one of the worst contracts in NFL history.

Master P says Ricky ended up making around $14 mil on the deal -- but says there were bigger issues ... and suggested that Williams got lazy in his career and lost the drive to perform.