Grammy winning American rapper J. Cole joins Chinese basketball team

Grammy-winning American rapper J. Cole is expected to play for the professional Chinese basketball team Nanjing Monkey Kings on Thursday, the club announced on social media.

The team will play a home game in East China's Jiangsu province, against the Ningbo Rockets.

Using a promotional flyer which the club posted to Weibo, it said "tonight... the ace player joins the game", they also posted a video of Cole exercising ahead of the game.

Earlier, the club posted a video to China's version of TikTok, Douyin, showing the team's general manager meeting the 41-year-old musician at the airport, describing Cole as Nanjing's "new foreign player".

The rapper, whose full name is Jermaine Lamarr Cole, posted a shout-out to fans on his own Douyin account, saying "China, what's the word".

China's state news agency Xinhua reported Cole had previously promised to play some games for Nanjing, though it remains unclear how many he will join.

Cole became a part-owner of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets in 2023 after basketball legend Michael Jordan sold his majority stake in the club.

Cole has also made appearances on the court during the Basketball Africa League in 2021 and a year later in the Canadian Elite Basketball League.