J. Cole’s Chinese Basketball Run Lasts One Game: Eight Minutes, No Points and a Visa Problem

J. Cole’s professional basketball career in China had a very short season. The rapper signed a three-game contract with the Nanjing Monkey Kings of the Chinese Basketball Association on April 1, played his first game on Saturday (April 11), and was home before he could play a second.

In a Sunday post (April 12) on his blog, The Algorithm, Cole explained the cut-short stay. “Initially I was scheduled to play in at least 3 games for the Nanjing Monkey Kings of the CBA,” he wrote. “The work visa process took way longer than expected, so I was only able to play in one game before heading back.”

The box score

Cole checked in for eight minutes against the Guangzhou Loong Lions and went 0-for-5 from three-point range, with an assist, a rebound and a personal foul, according to Hot New Hip Hop. Nanjing lost 95–81. Cole took it in stride in his blog post. “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,” he wrote. “A couple more games and maybe those shots would have started to fall!”

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He was gracious about the experience, too, thanking Nanjing and the league, and his teammates, who he said “really wanted me to get a bucket.” He added that it was the first time he and his family had been to China, and that the fans made an impression. “I didn’t realize there were so many people in China that rocked with my music,” he wrote. “Thank you to everybody who showed up and brought an album to sign.”

Why Nanjing wanted him

The team’s general manager, Zhen Wang, said the signing was partly about opportunity for his own roster. “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, per Complex.

The context

Cole’s hoops detours are a pattern. The CBA is the third pro league he has played in, after the Basketball Africa League in 2021 with the Rwanda Patriots and the Canadian Elite Basketball League in 2022 with the Scarborough Shooting Stars, per Hot New Hip Hop. The first came in 2021, the year The Off-Season was released, and this one follows The Fall-Off, his seventh Billboard 200 No. 1, according to Billboard.

Next is the tour. The Fall-Off Tour runs across 15 countries starting July 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina and wrapping Dec. 12 in Johannesburg, South Africa. After that, Cole isn’t closing the door on Nanjing. “I told the team that if I could stay in shape I would be down to play for a longer amount of games next year after I’m done with tour,” he wrote. “I’m wildin????…we’ll see.”

Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.