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Six More Of The Greatest NBA Player Cameos In Music Videos Of All Time

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Basketball players have been appearing in music videos for a pretty long time now. Earlier this year, we looked at some notable examples of this, which included some older examples (Shaq appearing in the video for “Make ‘Em Say Uhh!”) and some newer ones (DeMar DeRozan’s highly-publicized cameo in the video for “Not Like Us”).

Fortunately for us, that was only the tip of the iceberg, as there are plenty of other examples of times when musicians reached out to NBA players and asked them to pop up in the video for one of their songs. And today, we wanted to dive into a few more of these, starting with one of the more surprising cameos we can remember…

Kawhi Leonard: “Way 2 Sexy” by Drake featuring Future and Young Thug

Kawhi Leonard has managed to turn being a boring and laid-back guy into his brand. For how brilliant he is at his best on the basketball court, Leonard is known for being soft-spoken and keeping himself out of the spotlight. All of this is to say that when Kawhi showed up in “Way 2 Sexy” dressed in all white and joined Drake, Future, and Young Thug in essentially lampooning boy band music videos, well, I can safely say I did not see that coming.

Magic Johnson: “Remember The Time” by Michael Jackson

The legendary video for “Remember The Time” is all built around Jackson performing for Egyptian royalty, played in here by Eddie Murphy and Iman. But off to the side, Johnson is the herald who presents performers to Murphy and Iman. Shockingly, it seemed like Magic had a terrific time with the project, and earlier this year, he called getting to be in the video “one of the greatest thrills in my life.”

LeBron James: “Forever” by Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem

Of course LeBron was going to be in this video in some capacity, as it was made for the 2008 documentary More than a Game, which followed around his high school team at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron. He hops onto PokerStars before the track starts, and while we don’t see him in the video again, we get plenty of clips and photos from before he made it to the NBA. However, a few months after the song came out, we did get a famous clip of LeBron rapping along to Eminem’s verse in the waning moments of a Cavs-Lakers game.

Stephen Curry: “Lil Fish, Big Pond” by Tobe Nwigwe

Curry joined Nwigwe in the video for his 2023 release, which was part of the soundtrack for the Apple TV+ release, Stephen Curry: Underrated. In the video, the pair are fishing on a boat, and Curry lip syncs along to the first verse before viewers see that Nwigwe is also on the boat. A little later, the pair sit alongside one another in a stadium.

Metta Sandiford-Artest: “Nas Is Like” by Nas

If you blink, you’ll miss when the two Queens legends link up in the music video for the first track off of “I Am…” It shows Nas throughout Queensbridge, which both he and the former Ron Artest called home as they were growing up. While this is an extremely short cameo, Sandiford-Artest arrives, shows Nas some love, and then looks into the camera at the 1:24 mark.

Grant Hill: “Rockstar” by Nickelback

I’ll be honest with you: I am unsure why Grant Hill appeared in the music video for “Rockstar,” and funny enough, if you take his word for it, Grant Hill wasn’t 100 percent sure why, either. Anyway, the video famously has a ton of celebrities in it, and at one point, Hill shows up and is in the middle of signing a basketball in a gym while he lip syncs the line “sign a couple autographs so I can eat…” before the camera cuts to someone else. He then shows up later and lip syncs “with the movie stars.”

Flau’jae’s New Video Shows Off Her ‘Legendary Flows’ At LSU’s Arena

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NCAA’s women’s basketball season officially tips off this Sunday, but although LSU’s junior guard Flau’jae Johnson has had her hands full with the team’s as-yet-undefeated preseason schedule, she’s still found time for her second career. In addition to averaging 22 points and 6 rebounds a game, Flau’jae moonlights as a rapper — and she’s just as skilled off the court as she is on it. She proves as much in the video for her new song “Legendary Flows,” which was shot at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center — best known as the home arena for LSU’s Tigers basketball teams.

“Legendary Flows” appears on the deluxe version of Flau’jae’s Best of Both Worlds EP, which updated the Savannah native’s June debut with four new tracks, including “Big Bag,” “Lone Survivor,” “Master Plan,” and “Red Toes.” It continued her strong musical showing in 2024, which included collaborating with Wyclef Jean on “Paper Right,” her anticipated Lil Wayne collaboration “Came Out A Beast,” and her inclusion on Culture Jam’s WNBA collaboration, “Can’t Get Enough” with BIA and Lakeyah.

As solid as her rap career has been, it looks like Flau’jae’s future still very much lies with basketball — at least, for now. The NCAA champion has the opportunity to acquire its second national championship of Johnson’s tenure, this time with Flau’jae herself at the helm. Their tune-up exhibition games have included a 117-44 blowout against Charleston Southern and a 95-36 beatdown of Northwestern State in the past month. While that’s no guarantee they’ll flatten ranked opponents the same way, it’s a good indicator they aren’t resting on their laurels.

You can watch Flau’jae’s “Legendary Flows” video above.

Snoop Dogg Called Out Jeanie Buss And Rob Pelinka Amid Lakers Struggles: ‘Where Ya At? Make Some Moves’

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ESPN

After a hot start to the 2024-25 season, things have taken a turn for the worse for the Los Angeles Lakers, as they’ve gone 3-7 in their last 10 games to fall to 13-11, with a tenuous hold on 8th in the West. As of now, it looks like another year where the Lakers will be battling for Play-In position and having to play their way into the playoffs, as has been the case ever since L.A. won the title in 2020.

For a team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, that’s falling short of expectations and it’s become clear that the Lakers needed to do more than simply make a coaching change to get to that next level. Swapping in JJ Redick for Darvin Ham hasn’t yielded any miracles just yet, which has further shifted the pressure from Laker fans onto the shoulders of GM Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss. You can count Snoop Dogg among the group of fans calling on the Lakers brass to do something, as the rap legend went on ESPN’s First Take on Friday and called out the top two decision-makers for the Lakers, asking “where ya at? Make some moves.”

I think it’s fair to say that Snoop speaks for a good chunk of Laker Nation with this statement, as Lakers fans have been begging the team to make a substantial move for a few years now. The last time they took a big swing they struck out in rather dramatic fashion with the trade for Russell Westbrook, and since then Pelinka and Buss have been unwilling to empty the cupboard on future draft assets in an effort to land another star. With the likes of Zach LaVine, Brandon Ingram, and Jimmy Butler all known to be available as trade season arrives in the NBA, there are certainly options for the Lakers if they want to try and pursue those. How they proceed will tell us a lot about how invested they are in trying to maximize the end of LeBron’s career, and if they don’t show a willingness to make a big move, then we can figure to get another round of Warriors-LeBron rumors.

Shaq Had To Walk Off Set After Charles Barkley Told Kenny Smith It’s ‘Not A Good Time’ To Reference Jay-Z

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TNT

The magic of Inside the NBA is that the crew is never afraid to go places that no other show would be willing to. The all-time example is Charles Barkley making jokes about the Jussie Smollett case and explaining to America that you should “not commit crimes with checks.”

On Tuesday night, we got another example from Chuck as Kenny Smith continued to push back on the rest of the guys wanting him to take on Stephen A. Smith in a free throw contest, insisting he’s “too good” for it. To make his point, he started a hypothetical about whether Jay-Z would battle rap a random guy on the street, but Chuck quickly stopped him by saying it’s probably “not a good time right now” to reference Jay-Z, as he was named in a lawsuit alongside Diddy accusing the two of raping a minor (which Jay-Z quickly denied and filed a motion to have it dismissed), which caused Shaq to walk off the desk to regain his composure, with Ernie close behind.

Kenny amended his example to Kendrick Lamar, while Chuck had the same grin on his face as he did when he was able to make his Jussie jokes, as no one is more proud of themselves when they get to tiptoe up to the line than Barkley. It’s rare Chuck gets to both be the jokester and voice of reason at the same time, but in this instance he was probably right that using Jay-Z as an example right now wasn’t the best timed reference, while also accomplishing his constant goal of getting Shaq to lose it.

12 Rap Lyrics That Reference Kevin Durant

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Getty Image/Merle Cooper

Kevin Durant has been one of the best players in the NBA basically since he arrived in the league in 2008, but due to his overlap with Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry, he hasn’t ever really gotten to carry the title of being the face of the league. For that reason, Durant isn’t quite as ubiquitous a figure when it comes to references in music and pop culture as the others, despite his immense talent and the way he changed the game.

That said, there was a period of time when Durant had a claim to being the best basketball player on the planet. That stretch from 2012-2019 saw him get name-dropped pretty frequently in rap lyrics, particularly after he joined the Warriors budding dynasty in 2016. Here, we’ll look at a dozen of the biggest tracks that reference Durant (most frequently as KD, as that’s much easier to rhyme).

“Pop That” — French Montana ft. Rick Ross, Drake, and Lil Wayne (2012)

Gettin cheddar packs like K.D., OKC that’s player s**t

Drake is always good for a few sports references on a song, and in his feature on the 2012 smash hit “Pop That” he shouts out KD while he was on the Thunder.

“Crown” — Jay-Z ft. Travis Scott (2013)

Scott Boras, you over baby/Robinson Cano, you coming with me/These n****s like rotary phones/It’s a new day, hit up KD

After launching his own sports agency in 2013, Jay-Z boasted about his growing client list on “Crown” (taking a shot at baseball superagent Scott Boras along the way), highlighting how Roc Nation Sports had already landed Robinson Cano and Kevin Durant (KD would leave Roc Nation in 2019).

“F**k KD” — Lil B (2014)

F**k Kevin Durant/F**k Kevin Durant/F**k Kevin Durant/F**k Kevin Durant
That is the entire chorus for this song, which has a lengthy backstory. After Durant tweeted about not liking Lil B’s music, TheBasedGod placed a curse on KD in 2011 and even dropped a whole diss track on the then-Thunder star in 2014. For awhile, there was compelling evidence that the curse was working as Durant and the Thunder couldn’t get over the hump to win a title, with KD ultimately breaking through after joining the Warriors — which is, ironically, Lil B’s favorite team.

“White Iverson” — Post Malone (2015)

Double OT like I’m KD, smokin’ OG

Post Malone had a ton of hoops references on his breakout hit (before his pivot to pop and, most recently, pivot to country), including this KD line — also, if this came out in 2019, this could’ve worked for a double-entendre about OG Anunoby.

“Good Drank” — 2 Chainz ft. Quavo and Gucci Mane (2016)

Oh, you in a slump/I’m headed to Oakland like Kevin Durant/What is your point?/Square with the stamp, for Kevin Durant

One of Gucci’s first features after his release from prison, the Atlanta rapper doubles up on his Durant references, both to Durant’s move to the Warriors and as a fill in for the number 35.

“Draco” — Future (2017)

35 b**ches at the St. Reg/Fall back shoot it like KD/Back in the kitchen with the Curry

This song is Future at the height of his powers, deftly pulling together Durant’s number 35 into a line about his fadeaway jumper and continues it with a nod to Durant’s then-Warriors teammate Stephen Curry.

“Save Me” — Meek Mill (2017)

I see n****s switchin’ sides like they KD/I can’t let it kill my vibe ’cause I’m too wavy

Durant’s move from the Thunder to the Warriors made him the poster boy for bailing on your team and switching sides, as Meek Mill references in this 2017 song.

“Ganja Burn” — Nicki Minaj (2018)

Still every team’s number one pick in the draft/You could bring anybody, weatherman, pick a day/I’m Kobe, KD, Kyrie, pick a K

Nicki Minaj uses this line about KD (along with Kobe Bryant and Kyrie Irving) to hammer home her place as the best woman in the rap game, which doubles as a reference to a famous Jay-Z line about a few guys named Mike.

“My Name Is” — Cordae (2018)

The best thing from PG since Kevin Durant

In Cordae’s first single, rapping over the beat from Eminem’s iconic “My Name Is”, he shouts out his fellow Prince George County native.

“Gold Roses” — Rick Ross ft. Drake (2019)

All smiles, Kevin Durant trials/Had to blow it on the court, I must have blew a milli’/I’m walkin’ on all charges, that’s my new Achilles

Drake references Durant and his torn Achilles in the 2019 Finals (suffered against Drake’s beloved Raptors) in this track with Rick Ross that released a month after the fact.

“Burner” — Lil Wayne (2020)

I keep a burner like Kevin Durant/I keep a burner like Kevin Durant

Lil Wayne might be the king of sports references in tracks, and in this 2020 song, he makes note of Durant’s infamous Twitter burner accounts in the chorus.

“go crazy” — Gunna (2023)

I been talking to my accountant a lot, tryna make what I got stack tall like KD

For decades, rappers have been comparing their stacks to the height of NBA big men — Shaq and Yao Ming are the gold standards for this in rap — but in this 2023 track Gunna uses KD. That’s a good choice, because KD is tall as hell, but it’s also a bit funny because Durant has been fighting the visual evidence that he’s actually a 7-footer his whole career, as he didn’t want to be a big man when he came into the league.

Raptors Ambassador Drake Dapped Up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander As Toronto Trailed Oklahoma City By 25

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The Toronto Raptors played host to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, which meant that the best Canadian basketball player in the world got to take the floor in Toronto. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City’s star guard who is right in the thick of the league’s MVP race, is a Toronto native and put on a show in front of his hometown, which led to one very notable Raptors fan showing him some love while the teams went to the locker room at halftime.

With the Thunder up by the emphatic score of 67-42, the two teams started to head into the back for the halftime break when Gilgeous-Alexander noticed Drake sitting in his usual courtside seat. Gilgeous-Alexander made it a point to head over there and showed Drake a bit of love before he went to the back.

Now, it’s worth mentioning that Drake is probably the most famous fan of an NBA team that there is, other than maybe Jack Nicholson with the Los Angeles Lakers. Having said that, Drake is also a global ambassador for the Raptors, and he might be the only person officially affiliated with an NBA team who can get away with dapping up an opposing player while their team is getting carved up on their home floor like this.

P-Lo Is Ready To Highlight The Bay Area’s Music At The 2025 NBA All-Star Game

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The NBA is heading to the Bay Area for All-Star weekend in 2025, as the Golden State Warriors and the Chase Center will play host to the league’s annual midseason showcase. The weekend is a celebration of the very best the NBA has to offer, and even as Adam Silver and co. seem hell-bent on fixing some perceived problems with the All-Star Game itself, the opportunity to gather and acknowledge how great the game of basketball can be makes the whole weekend worth it.

Beyond the celebration of the sport, All-Star weekend doubles as an opportunity to celebrate the host city. This time around, that means celebrating the Bay Area as a place that has made countless contributions to the worlds of basketball, music, and culture, and one way that’s happening is an upcoming project via Golden State Entertainment, the Golden State Warriors’ record label: For The Soil, a full-length, All-Star themed album that features some of the most prominent names from the Bay.

That includes P-Lo, who is spearheading the project in conjunction with Golden State Entertainment. So far, we’ve gotten one song that will appear on the album, “Players Holiday ’25,” which features P-Lo and a who’s who of big names from the Bay: Saweetie, G-Eazy, LaRussell, Larry June, Kamaiyah, Thuy, and YMTK. Other Bay Area icons, like E-40 and Too Short, will also appear on the album when it releases in 2025 — P-Lo was asked by GSE if he wanted to get any artists who weren’t from the Bay Area, but he wanted to “make sure we’re all represented.” And besides, it’s not like booking talent was hard once he started to ask around.

“Oh, no no no,” P-Lo responded when DIME asked if it was at all difficult to recruit artists from the Bay. “I think it’s a testament to all those great artists and my relationships with them. It was nothing but a, ‘Hey, I’m doing this, doing this with the Warriors, I need you on this.’ And everyone just kind of like jumped on board. And I think that’s something so special about the Bay, because I think people understand the bigger picture of what’s going on, everyone’s down to do it. So, it was dope, especially, like, ‘Players Holiday,’ for all those artists to come together on one day, I don’t think that ever happens — just everyone’s schedule and all that stuff. And it was perfect.”

P-Lo — a longtime Warriors fan who has done everything from providing in-arena music to enjoying Hennessy on Klay Thompson’s float during one of the team’s championship parades — described the environment on the set for the “Players Holiday ’25” video as “amazing,” as the opportunity to get that much talent and creativity into one place with a collection of “good people” is not something you see every day. He offered an anecdote to show just how special this project was, as he said Kamaiyah and G-Eazy couldn’t believe Larry June was part of the track because both of them reached out to him with songs in the past, and both times, they were left on read.

It was, of course, an opportunity to create something cool that represents the culture of uniqueness and innovation which defines the Bay — P-Lo wants the entire album to showcase that exact thing. But as you watch the video for “Players Holiday ’25,” you can’t help but notice that a core value that has come to define Steve Kerr’s tenure as head coach of the Warriors is prevalent. Kerr has spent years talking about the importance of joy in how Golden State operates, and P-Lo confirmed that the feeling of joy was everywhere on set.

“That’s literally what it was — literally, everyone was like, happy to be around each other, everyone was just happy just to see unity,” P-Lo says. “And I think we’re taking from the team, and strength in numbers, and being this deep team. And I feel like that’s what the Bay Area rap scene is — we’re deep, we’re strong, and we want to represent the Warriors.”

As for those Warriors, the team is doing an excellent job of generating some excitement ahead of the All-Star Game. The team is currently 12-7, which puts them in fourth place in the Western Conference at this early point in the season. All P-Lo wanted was for the team to get off to a hot start, one that would afford them a bit of a cushion once the slog that is the middle of the season rolled around.

He’s especially happy with the team’s depth, even after De’Anthony Melton tore his ACL. Despite the fact that they weren’t able to pull off a big swing for a star on the trade market, P-Lo expected that the Warriors would win a bunch of games due to the veteran additions they made in the summer — Melton, Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson — and of course, having things like an Andrew Wiggins bounce back, Draymond Green still being Draymond Green, and Steph Curry playing at an elite level this late into his career helps, too.

“I knew this was going to be a deeper team, especially with all those veterans coming in,” P-Lo says. “But I didn’t expect us to start out this fast, though. Like, I knew we were going to be a good team, but I didn’t expect us to be first in the West off the rip.”

Curry is almost certainly going to play in the All-Star Game, and if the team keeps winning, there’s a chance Kerr ends up coaching one of the teams under the NBA’s new format in his home building. Maybe someone like Jonathan Kuminga will do the Dunk Contest, maybe there will be a Warriors team during the Skills Challenge, and at the very least, it sure seems like Curry is going to run back his shooting competition with Sabrina Ionescu, with Caitlin Clark and a familiar friend joining this time around.

Hometown teams are usually well-represented at All-Star, and the Warriors certainly will be. But whether it was J-Cole performing in Charlotte, Chance the Rapper performing in Chicago, or any number of other examples, the music that is synonymous with a city is an important part of the weekend, too, and P-Lo will play a major role this time around in making sure that happens.

“I just want to showcase all the talent we have, all the great, unique artists that we have,” P-Lo says. “And really, because I feel like the Bay Area is always like underrepresented — whether it’s media or hip-hop or anything, we’re always like the underdog. So, one of the main things that I wanted to do is just make sure that we’re represented during that time, and we made sure that we’re having our stuff being played during All-Star, because All-Star is such a big event, not only for basketball fans, but just in general.

“So it’s like, there’s going to be so many people, so many different companies, everyone’s going to be out here for All-Star. And I just wanted to make sure that we’re represented and make sure that we’re heard.”

The ‘Inside The NBA’ Crew Joked About Getting Sued By Drake After Playing Kendrick Lamar At Halftime

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TNT

Kendrick Lamar stunned everyone last week when he teased and then dropped his newest album, GNX. Two things happened very quickly: One, it began receiving widespread acclaim, and two, people started screaming “MUSTARD” as loud as they could immediately after they heard “TV Off” for the first time. Lamar screams it on the track as a way to shout out collaborator DJ Mustard, and because the internet just does this sometimes, it got turned into a meme.

Because it was a thing people were making jokes about, it seemed a foregone conclusion that it would pop up on Inside the NBA sooner rather than later. And during halftime of Tuesday night’s NBA Cup game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns, “TV Off” came over the speakers, which led to a very good riff from the fellas and special guest panelist Jalen Rose.

Shaq decided to scream “MUSTAAAAAARD” a few times and crack a joke or two, while Rose slid in a spectacular line that we assume Drake won’t love.

“I don’t know if y’all should be playing that Kendrick,” Rose told the desk. “You don’t wanna get a lawsuit up in here.”

“Lawsuits don’t scare us around here,” Ernie Johnson quickly responded.

Rose, of course, is referencing the multiple legal actions that Drake has threatened against Universal Music Group around the biggest song from his feud with Kendrick over the summer, “Not Like Us.” No lawsuits have been filed yet, but if this does turn into a full-blown legal fight between Drake and UMG, we are willing to be large sums of money that Inside is going to make a ton of jokes about it.

Nikola Jokic Was Rapping Along To ‘Not Like Us’ In Warmups While Russell Westbrook Danced On The Bench

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Here’s the thing with Nikola Jokic: Despite being the best basketball player on the planet, he’s done a very good job of keeping his personal life and interests away from the court out of the public eye. All we really know about him is that the dude absolutely loves horses, to the point that he was pretty bummed when he learned that the Denver Nuggets’ championship parade in 2023 was going to keep him from getting back to his horses in Serbia as soon as possible.

Well as it turns out, we now know a thing that Nikola Jokic apparently likes: the song “Not Like Us.” While warming up for Monday’s game between the Nuggets and the New York Knicks, Jokic rapped along to the song while Russell Westbrook had the time of his life on the bench, which you can view here.

I would love to know Jokic’s complete thoughts on the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, along with whether or not he knows all the words to “Euphoria,” “6:16 in LA,” and of course, “Meet the Grahams.” A lot of this is because, when we did this back in 2019, Jokic refused to answer because he claimed it was someone I’d have never heard of, so I am fascinated in learning more about his taste in music.

Kendrick Lamar Dropping ‘GNX’ Could Be A Good Sign For The Warriors

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Kendrick Lamar stunned everyone on Friday afternoon. There had been hopes for months that a new album was on the way following his high-profile feud with Drake, and it looked like we were going to get another sign that something big was on the horizon when he released the music video for “GNX.”

And then, Kendrick took things a step further by just releasing his sixth studio album, which is also titled “GNX.” Because it is an album that Kendrick Lamar released out of nowhere, people went from being stunned to praising the project. And it’s possible that no one ends up being happier about this than the Golden State Warriors.

Why, you may ask? Well, as it turns out, good things tend to happen to the Warriors — which entered Friday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans with an 11-3 record, good for first place in the Western Conference — when Kendrick puts out an album. Each of the last four times that has happened, the team has gone on to win an NBA championship, with To Pimp a Butterfly coming out in March 2015, Damn. getting released in April 2017, and Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers dropping in April 2022. There was also the soundtrack to Black Panther, which came out in February 2018 and featured songs that were either performed or curated by Kendrick.

As for his other two studio albums, Section.80 and good kid, m.A.A.d city, the former came out a few weeks after they drafted Klay Thompson, and the latter was released in Oct. 2012, one week before the start of the 2012-13 NBA season, which marked the first time that Golden State made it to the postseason with Steph Curry on the team. Now, the overwhelming likelihood is that this is a bunch of insane coincidences, but if the Warriors do end up winning a championship, we’re going to think something weird is going on … and Kendrick will probably be a little bummed, as he’s a well-documented fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, which are currently the 4-seed in the West and find themselves 1.5 games back of Golden State.