All About Laughs
Drake is not only a global superstar, but he’s also an NBA superfan. The Toronto rapper’s status may be able to get him into many places and offer him incredible opportunities that the everyday-man isn’t able to, but it doesn’t make him immune to following rules and procedures.
Drake really thinks he’s one of the players 🤣 pic.twitter.com/z9WQklJRX1
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 31, 2019
For a long time, Drake has been a gift and a curse to the NBA, as he’s been somewhat of an unofficial team mascot for the Toronto Raptors. While his curtsied antics have been entertaining to fans, it wasn’t quite so for other coaches, team officials, and some of the other players. The “Laugh Now Cry Later” rapper would at times mock and taunt players on the opposing team, to massaging Raptors’ coach Nick Nurse’s shoulder mid-game.
Drake had received warnings from the NBA in the past, but in 2019 during the Eastern Conference Finals, the league had to speak to the Raptors after the shoulder massage. A memo was also sent to all teams as a reminder to enforce their policies concerning fan conduct. Mike Budenholzer, coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, certainly had a lot to say about the matter, as his team had been facing the Raptors during the play-offs game. “There’s certainly no place for fans and, you know, whatever it is exactly that Drake is for the Toronto Raptors,” Budenholzer said to ESPN. “You know, to be on the court, there’s boundaries and lines for a reason, and like I said, the league is usually pretty good at being on top of stuff like that.”
Drake just wants more life for his Raptors but his sideline antics got the Bucks in their feelings pic.twitter.com/6E7eDcDHFE
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 25, 2019
On the other hand, some players didn’t find fault in Drake’s presence. Steph Curry, who plays for the Warriors, felt that it was harmless, even as they were about to head into the finals to face the Raptors. “It’s been entertaining,” Curry said to ESPN reporters. ”I know it’s a tricky situation with him being right there on the court, but at the end of the day, he’s having fun, having — you can’t hate on nobody having fun. Well, I guess in this life everybody hates on people having fun. So it’s par for the course on that one.”
Drake tries very hard to pretend he doesn’t have Steph Curry and Kevin Durant’s jersey numbers tattooed on his body: https://t.co/vLPVBrFNrp pic.twitter.com/Kd2UeeLqRw
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) May 31, 2019
Golden State’s coach Steve Kerr also had some things to say about the Raptors ambassador on the court. “I kind of think it’s fun and the NBA kind of embraces the pop culture dynamic of the league and the stars and the celebrities who are out there,” said coach Kerr before joking, “And we got E-40 ready for them too, so we’re in good shape.”
Now ahead of his next album Certified Lover Boy, Drake is making headlines but for news outside of music, as Steve Kerr is back with another story surrounding the “Toosie Slide” rapper. Kerr took time to share a story where he followed the books and fined Drake $500 for interfering with the teams flight schedule when he caused Steph Curry to be late.
“We had a home game, and we were flying to L.A. after our home game, and we all got to the airport and Steph and Draymond weren’t on the plane,” Kerr revealed to reporters before a recent Warriors vs Raptors game. “Eric Housen, our travel man, called Steph and he said, ‘Oh, my fault, I’m with Drake and Draymond, we’re at the arena still, sorry we’re late. We had a team rule at the time, that you could bring a friend on the plane a couple times a year. Unbeknownst to me, Steph decided to use one of his slots for Drake, so Drake got on the plane that night with Draymond and Steph.”
Thank you Steve Kerr for this great @Drake story. #Warriors fans you are going to love this. #ABC7Now #DubNation pic.twitter.com/oaayCxK6hR
— Chris Alvarez (@CAlvarezABC7) January 11, 2021
He then shared: “And I fined all three of them for being late, and Drake paid his $500 fine, you can ask him, true story.” Curry confirmed the story as he told his side after the game saying that they “were definitely late just chatting up with Drake,” while saying the rapper referenced it in his song “Free Smoke”. “I took the team plane from Oracle,” he says in the song. That’s not the only time that the Warriors has been mentioned in his music, with the bar “Golden State running practice at my house” in his hit Summer Sixteen.
