The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 11 letter word XYLOPHONIST
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
X
Y
L
O
P
H
O
N
I
S
T
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Knock on wood if you want to become such a player" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case knock on wood if you want to become such a player = xylophonist.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.