J. Cole Goes Scoreless In 1st Game In Chinese Basketball League

2019 NBA All-Star Game — Source: Streeter Lecka / Getty

UPDATE: April 14, 2026, 10 a.m. EST

Welp, it looks like J. Cole’s stint with the CBA’s Nanjing Monkey Kings has been cut short.

In a post on his blog, Cole said he initially promised to play a few games, but a visa issue prevented him from doing so.

“The work visa process took way longer than expected, so I was only able to play in one game before heading back,” he wrote.

He thanked his teammates, writing, “I got to play 8 minutes in one of the top leagues in the world, got a few good looks but wasn’t able to hit one. A couple more games and maybe those shots would have started to fall!”

Still, just a chance to get out there on the court, has him feeling “like I dropped 20!!! And my knee felt like I played 40 minutes!”

His family was able to experience China with him, for which he’s grateful, as well as his diehard fan base.

“On top of all that the biggest win is that me and my family got to experience China for the first time. The people were kind, the cities are clean and beautiful. It’s a very peaceful place.

ORIGINAL STORY —

Fresh off dropping his chart-topping album, The Fall-Off, J. Cole headed overseas.

Not for a world tour, but for yet another shot at becoming a professional basketball player for the Nanjing Monkey Kings in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), the former home of NBA players like Antonio Blakeney, Tacko Fall, and Willie Cauley-Stein.

Cole finally got a chance to suit up and hit the hardwood for Saturday’s game against the Guangzhou Loong Lions.

Cole only saw eight minutes of playing time, going 0-4 from the field. Despite not scoring, a reel of his shots did show him dishing decent passes and setting a pick, which set his teammate up for a three-pointer. His stat line showed he grabbed one rebound and notched one assist.

Earlier this year, after squashing his awkward lawsuit beef with Cam’ron, he told the Talk With Flee host that he knows Father Time is catching up, but he still wants to professionally hoop when he can.

“I’m looking at the clock like, boy, I’m getting older. This might be my last shot,” he told Cam. “I’m going to keep my word to them and show up and play a couple of games, although I know I’m not in the best of shape because the album. I’m going to go out there and have fun with it.”

He describes it as “trying to scratch a last itch” and says that teams in foreign leagues acknowledge that he’s “not ass” plus there’s the added incentive of his star power giving their league’s some shine.

The Monkey Kings’ general manager, Zhen Wang, explained as much in a clip that showed him greeting Cole at the airport.

“Since he’s the minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets, we’re hoping that through his position, he can maybe help more of our domestic players get opportunities to train and play in the U.S.,” Wang said.

This makes Cole’s third stint in a basketball league, starting in 2021, when he suited up for three games for the Patriots BBC in Rwanda for the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Then, the following year, he joined the Scarborough Shooting Stars in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.

Cole “committed to playing a few games” for the Monkey Kings, so he’s got a couple more chances to improve his stats before hanging up his sneakers — his own Dreamer Indie 5000s, of course —for good.

See social media’s reaction to Cole’s time in the CBA below.