MANILA, Philippines — Jermaine Lamarr Cole, popularly known in the music industry as J.Cole, is reportedly trying to make an NBA team and has drawn interest from the Detroit Pistons.
“.@JColeNC we see you out here. You said they only got 12 slots on the Pistons,” the Pistons wrote on Twitter, referring to the Grammy award winning rapper’s song “FRIENDS” on his 2018 KOD album.
“Hit us up for that tryout. This is for all the dreamers @bleacherreport #Dreamville.”
.@JColeNC we see you out here. You said they only got 12 slots on the Pistons.
Hit us up for that tryout. This is for all the dreamers @bleacherreport #Dreamville https://t.co/6K24xaI28b pic.twitter.com/GYuG5LvqDE
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) August 4, 2020
On Sunday, another rapper in Percy Miller aka Master P told TMZ that J.Cole is considering pursuing his NBA dream and has been training seriously in the gym.
“When I talked to J. Cole, he was like, ‘You know, big dog, you did it. What do you think I would have to do to make it happen?” the No Limit Records founder said.
“I said, to get one of these NBA jerseys, it’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna be a lot of hate, it’s gonna be a lot of people not believing in you. But, you know, he got the right size.”
Master P certainly knows what he’s talking after playing for the Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors in 1998 and 1999 preseason, respectively.
But while it is farfetched for the 35-year-old Cole to crack an NBA roster, he was good enough of a basketball player to make the varsity team at Terry Sanford High School in his childhood home in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
He was also a walk-on player in his sophomore year in college at St. John’s University, a US NCAA Division 1 school.
But that stint ended before it even began after the 6-foot-3 Cole reportedly claimed to have stopped showing up on the second day of the tryout to focus on his music career.
Still, Cole will definitely have his work cut out for him in trying to make an NBA team.
“You can’t just go there because you’re J. Cole the artist. Nobody cares about that,” said Master P, who was featured in a recent commercial for Cole’s signature sneaker with Puma.
“They’ve been putting their whole life into this. So you’re gonna have to prove you’re worthy of being on that court. “I believe in him and I believe that he’s a youngster that has a lot of desire.”