J. Cole loves basketball. In 2013 Cole told Sports Illustrated that "Sports is where it started for me. It parallels my life. Rap is such a competitive thing. That's why I have to watch sports. I got to keep up. It's my life in just another form." After hooping at Terry Sanford High School, Cole tried out as a walk-on at St. John's in Queens. He has also released a signature shoe with Puma, played in the All-Star Celebrity Game, and appeared on the cover of NBA 2K.
There have been a lot of basketball stories relating to J. Cole in recent months. Per Miami Heat Assistant Coach Caron Butler. “He had reached out to me and told me he had a very, very talented guy that was just wrecking shop up here in North Carolina and he had just got released from the Hornets,” Butler told The Charlotte Observer. He continued. “Obviously, we were still trying to improve on our talent. He reached out to me and I just invited him to an open scrimmage in the summer and from that point on he really earned his way on.” Cole was also announced as part of the ownership group that recently purchased the Charlotte Hornets.
J. Cole Hints At NBA Aspirations
Recently, Cole featured on Bas' Afrobeat track "Passport Bros". The North Carolina rapper's verse included several references to his basketball connections. “Shots of Clase, me and lil Bassy in Barcelona. The news just dropped, I’m a partial owner, what can I say? Tell Coach Cliff to suit me up and I’ll play, I’m winning. We at Tape Mayfair, you can’t get in.”
There's a lot going on in these few lines so let's break it down. "I'm a partial owner," is obviously a reference to Cole's aforementioned place in the Hornets' ownership group. Meanwhile, "Coach Cliff" is a reference to Hornets head coach Steve Clifford. Finally, we have "Tape Mayfair", which is a reference to the incredibly exclusive "Tape London" nightclub. While it's unlikely that Cole is about to become the NBA's first-ever player-owner, especially with his GM's playoff aspirations, it's a sign of just how much the opportunity means to him. But who knows, maybe another bad season from the Hornets will see them make a surprising move in free agency.
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