Getty ImagesDrake has had his fair share of beef with other rappers, but some people might not have seen his latest row with a basketball player coming.
The rap megastar is famously a fan of Toronto Raptors – the NBA’s only Canadian team – and is regularly seen courtside watching games.
He’s also said to have made friends with current and former players, including DeMar DeRozan, who returned to the Raptors’ Scotiabank Arena as a member of opponents Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
But the Hotline Bling star didn’t exactly welcome his old friend back with open arms.
Getty ImagesDuring the weekend’s match-up the Raptors retired the jersey of legend Vince Carter.
It’s a common tribute NBA teams perform to honour significant former players, hanging their numbers from banners high up inside stadiums.
DeRozan is a six-time NBA All-Star who played for the Raptors from 2009 to 2018, making him a good candidate for the same treatment.
But speaking on Canadian Sports network TSN, Drake said: “If you ever put a DeRozan banner up, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself.”
Speaking to reporters after the game, he clapped back at the rapper when asked about his comments.
“He’s going to have a long way to climb to take it down, so tell him good luck,” he said.
DeRozan appeared in the video for Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us – the fiery diss track aimed at Drake that blew up the internet when it dropped earlier this year.
The basketball star also appeared on stage with Lamar when he performed the track in Los Angeles over the summer.
DeRozan told reporters at the time that he still considered Drake a friend, and compared the feud to a spectacle along the lines of Michael Jordan facing Kobe Bryant one-on-one.
Based on Drake’s brief comment, the rapper might not feel quite the same.
But he can at least take comfort in the fact that the Raptors beat the Kings by 131-128.
