*Rapper J. Cole has reportedly signed on to play another season of pro basketball, this time in Canada.
The Canadian Elite Basketball League announced Thursday that the Grammy-winning hip-hop star, whose full name is Jermaine Cole, will join the Scarborough Shooting Stars as a guard.
The details of his agreement have yet to be disclosed. As reported by The Associated Press, Cole played with the Rwanda Patriots in the Basketball Africa League in 2021.
The season begins on May 25.
READ MORE: J. Cole Addresses 8-Yr-Old Fight with Diddy with ‘Let Go My Hand’ / VIDEO
Per the report, each team in the CEBL typically plays 20 regular-season games followed by the playoff rounds to determine a champion.
“I think there’s a negative and a positive [to J. Cole’s presence],” Terrell Stoglin—Basketball Africa League’s leading scorer last season—told ESPN. “The negative part of it is: I think he took someone’s job that deserves it.
“I live in a basketball world. I don’t live in a fan world. I know a lot of guys that had their careers stopped by COVID and they’re still home working out and training for an opportunity like this,” he continued.
“For a guy who has so much money and has another career to just come here and average, like, one point a game and still get glorified is very disrespectful to the game. It’s disrespectful to the ones who sacrificed their whole lives for this, Stoglin explained.
“The positive side of it is: it brings a lot of attention, and, I guess, money. I don’t really pay attention to that type of stuff. I’m more [concerned that] he took someone’s job that deserved it,” he said.
Per ESPN, “Cole scored five points, and recorded three assists and five rebounds, in his three games at the BAL, but left the tournament ahead of the playoffs due to family commitments. The Patriots finished fourth.”
The CEBL launched in 2019 with six teams but has since expanded to 10 franchises. Training camp is currently underway. The regular season will kick off with Shooting Stars against the Guelph Nighthawks on Thursday.
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