Rap superstar J. Cole has officially signed with the Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings and will compete in the CBA league, according to renowned journalist Shams Charania on April 2. Born on January 28, 1985, the 41-year-old hip-hop poet has set a new CBA record for the oldest foreign player in league history.
Previously, the record for the oldest foreign player in the CBA was held by Stephon Marbury, who retired at age 40, followed by Hamed Haddadi (37) and Jason Dixon (36). Now, J. Cole, at 41, has raised that record by four full years.
J. Cole is not just making a cameo appearance. Standing 1.88 meters tall and playing both guard and forward, he has loved basketball since childhood and once turned down an opportunity to play in the NCAA to focus on music. In 2012, he participated in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game and later received a tryout invitation from the Detroit Pistons. In 2021, he signed with the Rwanda Patriots to play in the African Basketball League, and in 2022, he moved to the Canadian Elite Basketball League, where he averaged 2.4 points and 0.6 rebounds per game.
Nanjing Tongxi currently holds an 11-21 record this season, with no hope of making the playoffs. The signing has been widely interpreted as a "star-power rescue —J. Cole, alongside Drake and Kendrick Lamar, is considered one of the "big three" of contemporary hip-hop, with multiple Grammy Awards and platinum-certified albums to his name, making his commercial value far exceed his athletic performance.
J. Cole promised last year that he would come to play in China. Now that promise has been fulfilled, and the CBA is about to welcome its first-ever "rap foreign player."
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