Rap superstar J. Cole signs with Toronto basketball team
The Scarborough Shooting Stars of the Canadian Elite Basketball League will have an interesting rollcall when announcing its roster this season.
Chart-topping North Carolina rapper Jermaine Lamarr Cole -- better known as J.Cole -- has signed with the expansion outfit, the league announced Thursday.
"BREAKING: @sss--cebl have signed 6'3 guard, @JColeNC. He last played professionally in @theBAL," a tweet from the CEBL read.
Cole played last season for the Rwanda-based Patriots Basketball Club in the Basketball Africa League, an NBA-run 12-team league in the African continent.
Cole averaged 1.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in a little over 15 minutes per game in three games with Patriots BBC.
He joins a Scarborough team that will be playing its inaugural season after being announced as a new CEBL expansion club last summer.
- Download our app to get local alerts to your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
The Shooting Stars are part-owned by Nicholas (Niko) Carino, one of the co-founders of famed clothing and lifestyle brand OVO (October's Very Own).
Among the staff of the Shooting Stars are Jamaal Magloire, a former NBA player and Toronto Raptors basketball development consultant and community ambassador who is the team's vice president and senior adviser, as well as Brady Heslip, a former sharpshooting Canadian national team member, who is the club's general manager.
Cole, 37, will likely have to step away from the team for much of the season.
The Shooting Stars' first game is on May 26 as they visit the Guelph Nighthawks. Their first home game is June 4 against the Hamilton Honey Badgers.
After that, there's one more game, June 7, at home versus the Newfoundland Growlers before Cole would be able to play prior to going on tour.
Cole is to begin touring on June 10 in New York. When he begins his tour, Scarborough will still have 15 more games left to play.
The CEBL is a 10-team professional basketball league in Canada that plays its season during the summer months.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
CFL suspends Argos QB Chad Kelly at least nine games following investigation
The CFL suspended Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for at least nine regular-season games Tuesday following its investigation into a lawsuit filed by a former strength-and-conditioning coach against both the player and club.