Basketball Africa League Star Calls Out J. Cole Playing in the League

While the J.Cole fanfare has been pretty strong, players within the league are not feeling his presence. The African League’s leading scorer, Terrell Stoglin, used his voice to speak out against J. Cole’s presence in the BAL, stating that the rapper has taken a deserving player’s job away. Stoglin spoke to the press and said that Cole’s presence in the BAL is “disrespectful” to other players that have been shut out by the pandemic and are still at home, training hard and hoping to get picked up by a team.

Via ESPN:

“I think there’s a negative and a positive [to J. Cole’s presence],” Stoglin told ESPN. “The negative part of it is: I think he took someone’s job that deserves it.

“I live in a basketball world. I don’t live in a fan world. I know a lot of guys that had their careers stopped by COVID and they’re still home working out and training for an opportunity like this.

“For a guy who has so much money and has another career to just come here and average, like, one point a game and still get glorified is very disrespectful to the game. It’s disrespectful to the ones who sacrificed their whole lives for this.

“The positive side of it is: it brings a lot of attention, and, I guess, money. I don’t really pay attention to that type of stuff. I’m more [concerned that] he took someone’s job that deserved it.”

J. Cole's presence at BAL 'disrespectful to the game' – AS Sale's Stoglin https://t.co/IuyCfTX5zJ

— Berry (@SimplyBerry) May 25, 2021

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Cole can definitely play a little bit:

Jermaine Cole beats the shot clock with this bucket for @PatriotsBBC! They hold the lead over #US_MONASTIR in the first quarter #theBAL pic.twitter.com/ckYtl3l1FT

— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) May 22, 2021

For the African Basketball League, it’s all about getting coverage, and if J. Cole’s presence brings them that, then mission accomplished.

You can’t put a price on free publicity.

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