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One BAL Player Thinks J. Cole Being On A Roster Is ‘Disrespectful To The Game’

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J. Cole’s professional basketball career has been, for lack of a better term, pretty modest. As a player for Patriots Basketball Club in the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League, Cole has scored five points in three games. He’s looked like, well, a person playing professional basketball for the first time, although he does certainly have some skill on the court.

The biggest thing Cole’s done is bring attention to the league, although for one player, that trade-off is not worth it. Terrell Stoglin, a guard for AS Salé who averages 31 points per game, certainly sees the benefit of “a lot of attention, and, I guess, money” coming in because of Cole, but generally thinks he is disrespecting the game.

Via ESPN:

“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.”

Patriots chief operating officer Haydee Ndayishimiye unsurprisingly disagrees with this assessment — “We made a basketball decision which can be justified by our performance so far,” she said — but it is fair to point out that someone who has put their life towards playing ball professionally lost out on an opportunity to someone who recently started pursuing a basketball career. Still, the only rule is it has to work, and the brain trust with Patriots seem to be happy with Cole’s performance on the floor.

Migos Finally Confirm Their ‘Culture III’ Release Date With A Michael Jordan Parody

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A few days ago, Migos shared a video for a new song, “Straightenin,” which stirred up optimism that the trio is finally ready to release their highly anticipated album Culture III. The track didn’t come with confirmation of a release date, but now, a few days later, they’ve offered one: Culture III is officially scheduled for release on June 11.

The post making the announcement is formatted like a press release and reads, “ATLANTA, GA (May 17, 2021) — The following statement was released today by the Migos through their label Quality Control Music, located in Atlanta, GA, in response to questions about Culture III. ‘June 11th. We’re Back.’”

Sports fans probably noticed immediately that the post was made to resemble the 1995 press release sent by Michael Jordan’s team to announce his return to the NBA after a brief retirement (that, or, less likely, the resemblance is an unbelievable coincidence). Jordan’s message, sent via fax, reads much like Migos’ post and famously quotes Jordan as saying simply, “I’m back.”

Back in December 2020, Quavo explained the group’s mindset behind the new album and being able to promote it, saying, “We done with the album, we just waiting on 2021, man, so everything can crack up. We want the commotion, we want to move, we want to be outside. We want to drop it and go on tour. We want to have an album listening [party] and have people in that thang and really hearing the album.”

Culture III is out 6/11 via Quality Control Music.

J. Cole Had Three Points And Two Assists In His Basketball Africa League Debut

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It’s been a busy week for J. Cole, as he dropped his latest album, The Off-Season, to rave reviews last Thursday night and on Sunday, he made his debut in the new Basketball Africa League for Patriots Basketball Club in what turned into an 83-60 win for Cole’s squad in their season opener.

Cole has made clear his desire to make it in the basketball world for some time, and not just as a friend to NBA players and someone who name-checks his superstar friends on albums — although, to be clear, he does that too. Cole wants to prove he’s a real hooper and to show his commitment he tried out for and made the Rwandan squad in the new BAL. His debut was rather unspectacular, but he did get on the board with a putback bucket on a follow in transition for his first professional points.

He finished the game with three points, three rebounds, two assists, and three turnovers, doing the little things and not trying to impose his will too much. While he’s the superstar name on the team and in the league, J. Cole seems to understand and embrace being a role player for the Patriots. He’s happy to play defense, set screens, and try to space the floor for his teammates, while creating and taking opportunities when he can. Brandon Costner, former NC State star and a journeyman who’s played in the G League, China, and elsewhere, led the way for the Patriots with 20 points while Rwandan national Dieudonne Ndizeye added 13 points and six rebounds in the win.

Cole looks like another guy out there, which should be taken as a massive compliment. He doesn’t look wildly out of place with some really, really good basketball players, and for a 36-year-old who’s never played professionally otherwise, it’s a credit to him and the work he’s put in that he’s capable of doing that.

NBA Players Could Not Get Enough Of J. Cole’s ‘The Off-Season’

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J. Cole dropped his sixth studio album, and NBA players cannot get enough of it. Cole’s first release since 2018, The Off-Season became available to listeners on Friday at midnight, with fans taking to social media to heap praise on the record.

NBA players decided to join in on the fun, shouting out just about everything from the lyrics, to the album’s production, to the mere fact that Cole — who is adding professional basketball player to his list of responsibilities by joining the Patriots Basketball Club of the Basketball Africa League — put together a new album.

One player, Eric Paschall of the Golden State Warriors, ran into some trouble trying to listen to it right at midnight, but eventually got to listen and really liked what he heard.

Plenty of dudes had something to say about the number of nods Cole gave to the basketball world. Ja Morant appreciated getting some love on “My Life,” Bradley Beal was glad to see Russell Westbrook’s name get dropped on “Amari,” and both C.J. McCollum and Donovan Mitchell were fans of Cole sampling Damian Lillard’s postgame comments after he dropped 61 points on the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA’s Orlando Bubble on “Punchin’ the Clock.”

And unsurprisingly, Dennis Smith Jr. had the highest possible praise for his friend from Fayetteville.

Shaq Applies His Analysis To Rap Lyrics About Him From Cardi B, Drake, Jay-Z, And More

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When it comes to pop culture figures that rappers love to reference in their songs, NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal stands head and shoulders above the rest — literally, in most cases. Not only does he have an extensive hoop, film, and rap career to draw lyrical comparisons to, but there is a wealth of words that rhyme with “Shaq” — not to mention, his many, many nicknames. The Big Diesel, who’s now best-known for his nightly hoops analysis on NBA on TNT, tried his hand at breaking down some of the bars about him from rap titans like Biggie, Cardi B, Drake, and Jay-Z for Genius’s Between The Lines.

Throughout the course of the video, Shaq gives his impression of the many, many rap lines about him. Nas’s “It Ain’t Hard To Tell” was one of the first songs to make reference to O’Neal (more precisely, to the way “Shaquille holds the pill”), blowing the then-NBA sophomore’s mind, while Mannie Fresh’s “Still Fly” line about buying a car from him turns out to be a true story. Shaq also notes he wasn’t bugged by Biggie’s line about losing money on Lakers games from “I Love The Dough” because it too was based on the performance of the Lakers in their first three playoffs appearances with Shaq on the team, plus due to BIG’s contribution to Shaq’s own album — which he naturally gets into as well.

There’s plenty more to talk about; watch the full video up top.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Drake’s Son Adonis Was Locked In Watching LeBron James Highlights

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Part of what makes sports so great is the history that gets passed down from generation to generation, stories told from fathers and mothers to their sons and daughters of the greats they saw. Today, that often means showing highlight reels on YouTube, which has an endless supply of videos of the best from today and compilations put together from yesteryear.

While the generations are often split on the GOAT debates based on who they saw play when they were younger, being able to appreciate greatness is nearly universal among sports fans. Some players, like LeBron James, have careers that span multiple generations and part of what makes his legacy so incredible is that he’s continuing to dominate nearly two decades into his NBA career. That so many have been able to witness his greatness in person or at least live on TV is going to make him a figure discussed, debated, and revered long after he eventually retires.

It also means there’s quite the backlog of LeBron highlights to show this current generation of kids who may only know of Laker LeBron, which is exactly what Drake did with his son Adonis, posting a video of his son absolutely locked in and enthralled by some of James’ best highlights from his younger days.

It’s they type of thing almost every sports fan can immediately relate to, that sense of awe and disbelief as a child watching the very best do seemingly superhuman things. It’s what folks of my generation born in the early 90s had the first time we saw Michael Jordan, surely having similar “OMG” moments as we, knowing the late-career Jordan, first got introduced to some of his early highlights via VHS tapes. Drake’s love of basketball and sports in general is not a secret, and part of the joy of parenthood is finding things to share and enjoy with your kids, which it seems he and Adonis will be able to do with hoops.

LeBron James’ Tweet About Kendrick Lamar Is Giving People Hope That New Music Is On The Way

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Last week marked four years since Kendrick Lamar dropped his last solo album, DAMN. Since then, fans haven’t been entirely deprived of new music from him as the rapper has delivered several guest verses on top of his big role on 2018’s Black Panther soundtrack. Despite this, supporters of the TDE rapper are heavily anticipating a new body of work from him, something they think is coming soon thanks to a tweet from LeBron James.

On Saturday morning, LeBron posted, “Man I miss @kendricklamar ! In dying need of his gift/presence right now.” From the looks of it, the tweet may appear as just an innocent shoutout to the rapper, but some fans think otherwise.

“Lebron the A&R just told us Kendrick is coming with some summer heat I fear,” one person wrote in a tweet. Another user noted what happened the last time LeBron shared a similar tweet. “The last time he did this Kendrick dropped Untitled Unmastered (laughing emoji),” they wrote. “I appreciate what LeBron is doing for the people.”

LeBron’s tweet comes after TDE in-house engineer MixedByAli shared some insight on the rapper’s upcoming album. “I would say, every album that he has dropped since Good Kid has come with a different feeling so just look forward to Kendrick obviously expressing himself in the most creative way -– the most highest of the creative way,” he said. As for whether or not it would drop this year, this is what MixedByAli had to say: “It might, it might, you never know.”

You can read more reactions to LeBron’s tweet below.

Shaq Hilariously Tried To Explain The Usher Bucks Controversy On ‘Inside The NBA’

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Earlier this week, Usher found himself trending on Twitter after getting put on blast for throwing fake money with his face on it at a strip club, to the dismay of the dancers. The photos of the “Usher Bucks” as they quickly became known as on social media went viral and caused an awful lot of jokes at Usher’s expense.

The actual story was that Usher had left the bills behind as a gag to promote his upcoming Vegas residency and had indeed been tipping the staff and dancers at the club with actual, legal currency all night. That didn’t stop the jokes, though, and on Thursday night the Usher Bucks scandal made its way to Inside the NBA, where a tweet joking that Charles Barkley’s guarantees are worth about as much as a fake Usher $100. What ensued was some classic Inside banter, with Chuck defending Usher’s honor and then Shaq trying to explain the entire thing as G-rated as he could for the television audience.

Shaq’s use of the “grocery store” in place of strip club was pretty funny and got a good laugh out of the guys, and, honestly, I would much prefer the fellas spend an entire segment trying to explain to Charles Barkley things that went viral on social media each week than, say, debating the merits of big men shooting threes again.

LeBron James, Bradley Beal And Many More NBA Players Paid Tribute To DMX After His Passing

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The music world suffered a gigantic loss on Friday morning. After spending several days in the hospital in critical condition, Earl Simmons, known to millions as DMX, died at age 50. DMX suffered a heart attack as a result of an apparent drug overdose on April 2, and a few days later, his manager said that he was in a comatose state and on life support, with his team of doctors performing a series of tests in an attempt to determine what would be best.

As is oftentimes the case when someone as revered as DMX passes away, the news led to plenty of people on social media — including many from the world of music — issuing up prayers and tributes. This also included a number of NBA players, including LeBron James and Bradley Beal, some of whom made it a point to look back on his life and legacy.

Eric Paschall of the Golden State Warriors posted a famous video of DMX at Woodstock ’99, where he performed “Ruff Ryders Anthem” in front of a packed, energetic crowd.

Charlotte Hornets youngster Miles Bridges made it a point to say that “this one hurt” and proclaimed that DMX is one of his favorite rappers.

Rodney Hood Learned On Saturday That His Childhood Neighbor Hayley Was Paramore’s Hayley Williams

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The world of basketball and the world of music intersect pretty frequently for one reason or another. Our latest example of this came on Saturday afternoon thanks to new Toronto Raptor Rodney Hood, although it had nothing to do with him dropping a mixtape or deciding to produce an album or anything like that.

Back in June, a since-deleted post by our pal Marco Romo of Five Reasons Sports Network caught the attention of Paramore singer Hayley Williams. In it, Williams revealed that her childhood neighbor in Meridian, Mississippi, was named Rodney, helped teach her how to dance, and “may be an nba player now.”

Marco Romo/Twitter
Marco Romo/Twitter

Now, Hood is the only current NBA player from Meridian, and since the only other Rodney in the NBA is from Maryland (Rodney McGruder), we can probably make an assumption here. Anyway, some time passed, and then Hood got traded to the Raptors, where he was asked about this. Dime pal Blake Murphy of The Athletic, who I lovingly say is the NBA reporter most likely to remember that Williams tweet, brought it to Hood’s attention during his first meeting with the media up north.

Hood revealed two things: 1. He did not realize his neighbor grew up to be the lead singer of Paramore and, 2. He can’t dance.

This is now the best story in the NBA. Once bands can begin touring safely again, I sincerely hope Hood and Williams are reunited during a concert in Toronto.