NBA star DeMar DeRozan was found cutting a rug onstage as Kendrick Lamar performed his strike “Not Like Us” on Wednesday night at the Kia Forum.
That may possibly not feel so uncommon. Just after all, seemingly half of Los Angeles was packed on to the Discussion board phase to dance together with the Pulitzer Prize-successful rapper’s earworm of a music, which also doubles as a Drake diss monitor and possibly the past phrase in Lamar’s really general public feud with the Canadian hip-hop superstar.
DeRozan seems to be in a exceptional scenario, nevertheless, in that he may well have been the only human being up there who has — or at the very least experienced — a friendship with Drake.
A standout participant at Compton High, DeRozan played at USC for a year prior to remaining picked at No. 9 total by the Toronto Raptors in the 2009 NBA draft. Soon after shelling out the initial nine many years of his profession with Toronto, earning 3 All-Star nods through that period of time, DeRozan was delivered to the San Antonio Spurs in the trade that introduced Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors during the 2018 offseason. He was then traded to the Chicago Bulls in 2021 and is set to grow to be an unrestricted cost-free agent this summer season.
Drake, whose full title is Aubrey Drake Graham, was born in Toronto and is a diehard Raptors enthusiast. He has served as the team’s world wide ambassador given that 2013. The working day DeRozan was traded to the Spurs, the “God’s Approach” singer was there to present comfort and ease to the heartbroken player.
“I went to Drake’s residence. Me and him sat and talked for a couple of hours,” DeRozan told ESPN in 2018. “Not even on some hoops things. Just to listen to the terms that occur from him being the man or woman that he is in this entire world, specifically in Toronto. What I intended to this metropolis. It was what I desired.”
At that time, Drake posted a heartfelt information to DeRozan on Instagram, referring to him as a “brother” as perfectly as “an unbelievable captain and an even far better pal.”
“To my brother @demar_derozan I want to say 10 million thank you’s on behalf of YOUR city. You are a fixture in Toronto permanently and you gave every thing you experienced,” Drake wrote in a post that seems to have been deleted. “Through your leadership we had the most thrilling several years in franchise historical past. I am grateful to have witnessed your combination of ability, persistence, and loyalty from the very same seats each night. Thank you for remaining an incredible captain and an even greater friend.”
Drake also title-dropped the basketball star in his 2021 tune “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” with the line, “My city love me like DeMar DeRozan.”
But Lamar has a connection with DeRozan as nicely.
They both of those grew up in Compton and have been seen with each other at a 2020 peace march in the town. With his spat with Drake achieving epic proportions this spring, Lamar produced “Not Like Us,” which also incorporates a line that references DeRozan: “I’m glad DeRoz arrived property, y’all did not deserve him neither.”
Lamar executed the well-liked monitor numerous moments in a row Wednesday through his “The Pop Out — Ken & Friends” display in Inglewood on Juneteenth. DeRozan and Clippers star Russell Westbrook, who is from Very long Beach front and played for UCLA, appeared to be possessing a good time dancing with the masses onstage through Lamar’s fifth and final time via the song. Lakers star LeBron James and quickly-to-be NBA free of charge agent James Harden, who played last time with the Clippers, ended up also in attendance but didn’t get the stage.
Possibly the transfer by DeRozan was absolutely nothing personal towards Drake. Possibly he just needed to consider aspect in a specific moment with out placing a whole lot of believed into it.
Or possibly DeRozan was eventually getting revenge for staying dissed several situations by the “Laugh Now Cry Later” singer all through their 2017 NBA Awards skit with comic Will Ferrell. Drake is most likely obtaining next feelings about producing pleasurable of DeRozan’s identify — with strains this kind of as, “DeMar I say it, de significantly less I like it” and “DeFense? Is that your cousin, DeMar?” — right about now.
