AS Sale guard Terrell Stoglin became the first player to score 40 points in a Basketball Africa League game last week, becoming the league's top scorer. As one of the biggest names in the league, the former Maryland baller used his voice to speak out against J. Cole's presence in the BAL, stating that the rapper has taken a deserving player's job away.
There has been a media circus surrounding J. Cole's professional basketball career overseas. Following the release of his latest studio album The Off-Season, the North Carolina-bred superstar rapper made his on-court debut as a member of the Patriots BBC. Cole's highlights have been going viral on social media, including a clean pull-up jumper from his most recent game, but some people believe that with his subpar stat line, he should be focusing on music.
Terrell Stoglin spoke to the press and said that Cole's presence in the BAL is "disrespectful" to other players that have been shut out by the pandemic and are still at home, training hard and hoping to get picked up by a team.
"I think there's a negative and a positive [to J. Cole's presence]," said Stoglin to 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."
What do you think about Stoglin's comments? Do you agree?