While J Cole has been having fun playing pro ball in the nascent Basketball Africa League, he hasn't exactly been setting the court on fire.
Cole has scored five points in his three games, despite getting a good chunk of playing time.
AS Sale guard Terrell Stoglin, who is the leading scorer in the BAL at 31 points a game, called Cole's presence "disrespectful".
"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."
Stoglin has his own interesting history. He averaged 21.6 points a game his sophomore year for the University of Maryland. However, he was suspended for his junior year, after clashing with the coaching staff, for violation of the student-athlete code of conduct.
He went pro instead but was undrafted by the NBA. Since then he's played everywhere overseas from Poland to Venzuala -- where he was ejected during Game 7 of the LPB Grand Final after he kicked the ball into the stands, removed his jersey, and flipped the crowd the bird before exiting the court.
Does he have a point about Cole?