Artist Signs Professional Basketball Deal, Acknowledges Limited Window for Play
Jermaine Cole, the multi-Grammy Award-winning artist known as J. Cole, has signed a professional contract to play basketball with the Nanjing Monkey Kings in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). This marks Cole's third venture into professional sports leagues. Sources confirm the agreement, which follows a prior offer from the team last year that Cole is now reportedly fulfilling. Cole himself announced his arrival in China via a video on the Chinese social media platform Douyin.
The move sees Cole, a longtime basketball enthusiast who played high school ball in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and attended St. John's on an academic scholarship, engaging with a professional league. At 41, Cole has publicly acknowledged the diminishing opportunity to compete at a professional level, referring to this as "my last shot." His prior experience includes playing five games for the Scarborough Shooting Stars in Canada, where he averaged 2.4 points and 0.6 rebounds. The Nanjing Monkey Kings are based in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Cole has been observed practicing with the team.
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