J. Cole Trying to Start NBA Career, Master P Claims

J. Cole is looking to be the next NBA star. TMZ recently caught up with Master P, who earned two NBA contracts in the ’90s, which was the height of his hip-hop career. Master P said he had a long conversation with Cole about his basketball dreams. Cole has apparently been training to be an NBA player, and Master P believes he’s very serious.

“When I talked to J. Cole, he was like ‘You know, big dog you did it. What do you think I would have to do to make it happen?’” Master P said. “I said to get one of these NBA jerseys, it’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna be a lot of hate, it’s gonna be a lot of people not believing in you but you know J. Cole — he got the right size, he in the gym!” Master P went on to say that he told Cole, “They’re going to pick you apart! You’re gonna have to be able to hit every shot and if you don’t hit every shot, they — you know in the NBA, they don’t hit every shot but they believe in them.” He then told Cole he will have got to a team where they “really believe in you and the players believe in you.”

Cole is considered one of the best non-pro celebrity basketball players in the country. He’s a regular on the celebrity basketball circuit and played basketball when he was in high school. Cole tried out for St. Johns while in college but decided to focus on his rap career, but it looks like NBA teams are starring to take notice as the Detroit Pistons reached out to him for a tryout.

“We see you out here,” the Pistons wrote to Cole on Twitter. “You said they only got 12 slots on the Pistons. Hit us up for that tryout. This is for all the dreamers. Cole, 35, gained attention in the music world with his mixtape The Come Up in 2007. He came out with a couple more mixtapes before releasing his first album in 2011. Since then, Cole has released four more albums and all have debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts. This year, Cole won his first Grammy Award – Best Rap Song for “A Lot” featuring 21 Savage.