J. Cole scores first pro points in Basketball Africa League debut
On Sunday, rapper J. Cole made his professional basketball debut as the Basketball Africa League tipped off its inaugural season at the Kigali Arena in Rwanda.
Cole, whose real name is Jermaine Cole, recorded three points, three rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes for the Rwanda Patriots Basketball Club. Cole got on the board late in the first quarter with a putback layup following a missed shot from Steve Hagumintwari.
The Grammy Award winner played basketball in high school before briefly walking on at St. John’s. The debut by Cole came just two days after releasing his latest studio album, “The Off-Season,” on Friday.
The BAL is a collaboration between the NBA and FIBA featuring 12 teams from 12 countries across Africa. Each team will have up to 13 players, at least nine of whom are citizens in their respective team’s home country and up to four of whom are from other countries.
The 12 teams will be placed into three groups of four. During the group phase, each team will face the three other teams in its group once. The top eight teams from the group phase will qualify for the playoffs, which will be single elimination in all three rounds.
In the United States, all BAL games will be available on ESPN+ with the first game and Finals also airing on ESPNews. NBA TV will broadcast 12 live games and select games on delay in the U.S. and around the world across the group phase, quarterfinals, semifinals and Finals.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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