Charles Cooke III, a former NBA G League guard with 16 games of NBA experience with the New Orleans Pelicans and Miami Heat, has signed a contract with the Hamilton Honey Badgers for the 2021 CEBL season, the team announced Tuesday. The 6-foot-5 guard from Trenton, New Jersey, split his last season between San German of the BSN, the first-tier level professional men’s basketball league in Puerto Rico, and Treviso in the Lega Basket Serie A, Italy’s top professional league.
Cooke, 26, began his collegiate career at James Madison University and after redshirting his junior year, transferred to play his last two seasons at the University of Dayton where he averaged 15.9 points, 5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1 block and 1 steal in 31.7 minutes per game his senior season. After going undrafted in the 2017 NBA Draft, Cooke joined the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 2017 NBA Summer League. He signed a two-way contract with New Orleans following Summer League and split that season between the Pelicans, their NBA G League affiliate in Greensboro, and the Utah Jazz affiliate in Salt Lake City. Cooke played 38 minutes in 12 games for the Pelicans during the 2017-18 season, totaling 6 points, 2 rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Cooke signed with Miami Heat in 2018 and appeared in one pre-season game before being sent to their NBA G League team, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. There, he averaged 14.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 31.1 minutes per game. On March 15, 2019 the Heat signed Cooke to a 10-day contract. He appeared in four games with the Miami Heat, averaging 6.5 points in 15 minutes per game.
“Charles Cooke is a long athletic wing that can guard multiple positions on the floor,” said Honey Badgers general manager Jermaine Anderson. “Charles has a wealth of experience playing in the NBA G League as a two-way player, and he has played in one of the most respected leagues in Europe. Most importantly, Charles is a high character guy that embodies our culture as an organization."
“Charles is a great addition to our organization with his experience and leadership,” said Hamilton head coach Ryan Schmidt. “He fits our culture and what we’re about in Hamilton with his toughness and desire to work. Charles gives us versatility on both ends of the court, and we’re looking forward to helping him elevate his game to the next level.”
The Honey Badgers open training camp June 17 at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton. Their season tips off June 26 on the road against the Edmonton Stingers . Stops at Saskatoon on June 28 and Ottawa on Canada Day precede their home-opener versus the Guelph Nighthawks at FirstOntario Centre on July 3. The games against Edmonton and Guelph will be televised nationally on CBC.
Hamilton is coming off a 4-4 record and third place finish in the CEBL Summer Series , which marked the first professional sports in Canada to return to play after Covid-19 halted sports in March of 2020. More than 1.2 million viewers across Canada watched games live on CBC, and games were carried to more than 130 million viewers around the world.
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