Basketballghana.com can confirm American Rapper J Cole has practiced with Patriots Basketball Club ahead of the start of the Basketball African League (BAL). (Click highlighted text to watch video)
Home side Patriots plays Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers in the opening game on Sunday, May 30 at 14:00 GMT; the competition is slated to end on May 30 with all games taking place at the Kigali Arena in Rwanda.
Cole’s participation in the NBA-FIBA Africa tournament as a player was confirmed earlier this week before he went into a mandatory four quarantine session. He joined Patriots first ever team practice in the bubble.
The multiple Award winning Hip Hop star is an avid basketball player who was on the cusp of playing Division I NCAA Basketball at St. John’s University. He has featured in the NBA Celebrity Games during the All Star Weekend.
Patriots have been drawn in Group A alongside Hoopers, Tunisia’s US Monastir and Madagascar’s GNBC; the top two teams progress automatically to the quarterfinals.
The 12 competing teams have been drawn into three groups; the best two third placed teams progress to the next stage.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@YawMintYM on Twitter
