J. Cole Talked to Drake About Playing on His Canadian Basketball Team

J. Cole's latest pro-basketball venture tips off Thursday and it might not have happened without his run-in with Drake during a party in Los Angeles.

Founding member of Drake's October's Very Own brand, Nicholas "OVO Niko" Corino, also co-owns the Scarborough Shooting Stars ... the Canadian Elite Basketball League team J. Cole is suiting up for -- and he told Complex how Cole approached Drizzy about being on the Shooting Stars team.

Niko said, "You know, Dreamville and OVO are family," and added, “Drake had a birthday party in L.A. last year. The conversation was, ‘I heard you have your team.’ It organically grew from there.”

If it sounds like a game of rapper nepotism, Shooting Stars forward Olu Famutimi assured fans Cole was putting in extra effort just to be seen as a "guy who can hoop."

He'll also be coached by former NBA All-Star Jamaal Magloire, who happens to hail from Scarborough ... a Toronto neighborhood.

Cole's already gotten the respect of fellow hip hop ballers Fivio Foreign and Dave East, and Kawhi Leonard's Culture Jam recently shared footage of how far Cole's game has involved.