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.
J. Cole is having quite the weekend with not only the Friday release of his album, "The Off-Season," but also his debut in the Basketball African League. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images via CNN)
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
They were from different countries and barely spoke each other's languages. More than 20 years later, they're still happily in love
He decided to spend Christmas somewhere that wouldn't involve snowstorm disasters. She was spending the holidays with family, travelling for the first time outside of her native country of Venezuela. 23 years later, they're still in love.
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial dies of injuries, police say
A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said.
Verdun Airbnb listing taken down amid complaints, fines and frustration from neighbours
An Airbnb in Montreal's Verdun borough was the source of much frustration from neighbours who say there were constant parties at the location. It has been taken down from the app, but housing advocates remain upset about short-term rentals.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Fire in Labrador town under control, officials tells residents to stay away
RCMP say the fire that prompted a state of emergency in a Labrador town is now under control.
12 students and teacher killed in Columbine school shooting remembered at 25th anniversary vigil
Thirteen victims of the Columbine High School shooting were remembered during a vigil Friday on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the shooting that was the worst the nation had seen at the time.
Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza city of Rafah kills at least 9 Palestinians, including 6 children
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza's southernmost city killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
Iraq investigates a blast at a base of Iran-allied militias that killed 1. U.S. denies involvement
Iraqi authorities said Saturday that they were investigating an explosion that struck a base belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iran-allied militias, killing one person and injuring eight.