Career Turn: From N.C.A.A. Star to Grammy-Nominated D.J.

Tucker Halpern, left, and Sophie Hawley-Weld, who met at Brown University, make up Sofi Tukker.There is the travel: New York and Boston, Paris and Rio. There is the adrenaline of performing, the joy of bringing people to their feet. There is the money and the fame, each growing every time the iPhone commercials air or another venue sells out.

These are the things Tucker Halpern saw for himself as a 12-year-old crisscrossing the country with an elite amateur basketball team. What he grinded for as a 15-year-old running stadiums steps until he collapsed. What he played for as a 6-foot-8, sweet-shooting, Ivy League star at Brown University.

But basketball gave Halpern none of it. In fact, it…