And Finally Artist News

J Cole’s basketball career seemingly comes to an end after two weeks

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 27 May 2021

Well, that didn’t last long. A little under two weeks after making his debut as a member of the Rwanda Patriots basketball team, J Cole has now seemingly left said team and returned to the US.

According to ESPN, Cole has left the Patriots due to a “family obligation”. His departure also comes after he completed what is believed to have been his contracted minimum of three games.

The rapper joined the Rwanda Patriots earlier this month, at the launch of the NBA-backed Basketball Africa League. He competed in his first game on 16 May, drawing mixed reviews for his playing.

Meanwhile, another American brought in to play in the league, Terrell Stoglin, who is part of Morroccan team AS Salé, recently criticised Cole for taking up a place that could have been filled by a proper professional player.

“The negative part of it is, I think he took someone’s job that deserves it”, he recently told ESPN. “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”.

“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”, he went on. “It’s disrespectful to the ones who sacrificed their whole lives for this”.

However, he did concede that Cole’s presence had brought a lot of attention to the new Basketball Africa League. The rapper’s debut as a pro basketball player also coincided with the release of his new album, ‘The Off-Season’. Now that his sporting career is seemingly over, he can get on with properly promoting that.

The Rwanda Patriots first game without Cole is due to take place against Mozambique’s Ferroviario de Maputo today.