The Toronto Raptors retired Vince Carter’s jersey last week, the highest honor the team can give to one of the most iconic players in franchise history. The game happened against the Sacramento Kings, which are the current team of someone else who will probably get his jersey retired by the Raptors some day, DeMar DeRozan.
While the night was all about Carter, there was some tension between DeRozan and noted Raptors fan Drake, which presumably all revolves around DeRozan appearing in the music video for Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” The whole ordeal rubbed former Toronto player Lou Williams the wrong way, which he expressed on FanDuel’s “Run It Back.”
“If I’m gonna speak candidly, I thought that was selfish of Drake,” Williams said. “Drake, as well as the country of Canada, the city of Toronto, they know what DeMar DeRozan has contributed to the culture up there, and what he’s contributed to the Toronto Raptors, and to that community. It goes way bigger than his personal relationship with Drake, it goes way bigger than his personal relationship with Kendrick Lamar. So for Drake to say, ‘If you put up a banner and I’ll personally pull it down,’ it’s like, is it just about you or is it about the Toronto Raptors?”
Drake expressed during the game that if the Raptors put up a DeRozan banner, “I’ll go up there and pull it down myself.” DeRozan was asked to respond to this after the game and told the press that “He gonna have a long way to climb to take it down. So, tell him good luck.” The following day, DeRozan posted a clip from Friday to his Instagram Story, and it’s not hard to read between the lines that he was talking about Drake.
Since before the release of her 2018 debut album, Ella Mai has maintained an elusive public persona. But after the “Not Another Love Song” singer shared her sophomore album, Heart On My Sleeve, Ella Mai slowly began to disappear from the public’s eye.
Today (November 3), Ella Mai reappeared online to announce her surprise EP, 3, to celebrate her birthday.
“AVAILABLE NOW EVERYWHERE! My 30th birthday gift to you all. 3 songs. November 3rd. one of my favorite numbers I’ve missed you all, three times over ,” she wrote in the Instagram post’s caption.
With striking photo of Ella’s profile against an emerald green backdrop, she also revealed some new ink. Behind Ella’s ear you can see her latest tattoo of the number 3. Immediately fans of Ella Mai’s NBA Champion boyfriend and father of her child, Jayson Tatum’s matching body art (viewable here).
After listening to the project, supporters believe 3 is a lover letter to Tatum. On the track “Little Things,” Ella sings: “Be right hеre when you’re wakin’ up / Breakfast on the table, know you like / Eggs, and they’re all scrambled up / Pancakes, bacon, OJ on the side / Packed your bag with extra clothes, your toothbrush in the Louis tote / Love notes for when you on the road / Cleaned your watch and Cuban links / Silk pillowcase for you to take / Boy, you deserve the little things.”
The line hints at Tatum’s demanding sports schedule with the Boston Celtics. This heartfelt fluttering can also be heard on “One Of Those,” where Ella sings: “Girl you better get you one of these / Wake up in the morning, he got flowers at my feet / Get one of these, yeah, I don’t wanna leave / Dancing ’round him got me like a puppet / I’ma let him pull my strings / Get you one of these / Kinda man that get you what you want, then he gon’ give you want you need / I’m just saying get you one of these.”
Continue below to view Ella Mai’s 3 tracklist and cover.
Tracklist
1. “Hearts On Deck”
2. “One Of These”
3. “Little Things”
Artwork
Interscope
3 is out now via 10 Summers/Interscope. Find more information here.
Yesterday (November 2), Drake attended the Toronto Raptors and the Sacramento Kings game at Scotiabank Arena. Instead of focusing on the friendly matchup, Drake and his longtime friend Nessel “Chubbs” Beezer decided to laser in on former Raptors star DeMar DeRozan (now the the Kings). Throughout the game, Drake could be heard hurling remarks at DeRozan (supposedly including “p*ssy” and “goof“), and it doesn’t seem to be sports related tension.
At one point, Drake and Chubbs (both courtside) can be seen standing up and staring down DeRozan (viewable here). Well, just as viewers at home caught the suspenseful moment, so did DeRozan. Over on Instagram, DeMar DeRozan decided to troll Drake back by posting a video clip from Friday (viewable here).
In the scene, starring Ice Cube (playing Craig) and Chris Tucker (playing Smokey), Tucker’s character attempts to regain tough points after being punked by the neighborhood bully, Deebo (played by the late Tommy Lister). “I got mind control over Deebo,” says Tucker. “He be like shut the f*ck up. I be quiet. But when he leaves I be talking again.”
This comes after Drake vowed to “pull down” DeRozan’s number should the Raptors ever decide to retire it after Vincent Carter’s number retirement celebration.
DeRozan claimed that he and Drake were “still family” even after he appeared in the “Not Like Us” music video. However, it appears Drake doesn’t feel that same.
It was a night for celebration in Toronto, as the Raptors retired the iconic number 15 worn by Vince Carter. And to put a cherry on top of what was a joyous evening in the 6, the Raptors were able to pick up a thrilling, 131-128 win over the Sacramento Kings in overtime, thanks to a 31-point outing by RJ Barrett.
Playing the Kings meant that another Toronto legend, DeMar DeRozan, was back in town. Drake, unsurprisingly, was also there, which set up a pretty funny back-and-forth. While sitting in the broadcast booth, Drake expressed that he does not want DeRozan to get a banner, saying “If you ever put a DeRozan banner up, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself.”
Now, it’s unclear if this is serious or a joke, but it’s worth remembering that DeRozan was in the music video for Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and appeared on stage at The Pop Out while Lamar performed the song at the height of his feud with Drake earlier this year. And after the game, DeRozan got asked about Drake’s comments and had a simple response before getting up and walking away.
“He gonna have a long way to climb to take it down,” DeRozan said. “So, tell him good luck.”
It’s worth mentioning that when DeRozan was asked about the Drake-Kendrick feud, he said that “Drake’s still my man, still my man, none of it changed.” We’ll be sure to let you know if all of this tonight was in good fun or if things have changed between these two.
Basketball and hip-hop have been joined at the hip as long as both have been at the forefront of American (and eventually global) pop culture. This is largely a result of ’80s rap pioneer Kurtis Blow‘s 1984 breakout hit “Basketball.” You know it. You love it.
The song’s been remade a couple of times over the years — most notably by Bow Wow in 2002 — but Blow himself teamed up with DoorDash and contemporary hitmaker Lola Brooke for “Basketball 2.0,” a remake capitalizing on the WNBA’s breakout 2024 season. Adding new verses to the traditionally heard “I like the pick-and-roll / I like the give-and-go,” the two rappers name check a variety of contemporary players, from LeBron James and Kevin Durant to WNBA stars like A’ja Wilson, Jonquel Jones, Sue Bird, and of course, rookie sensation Angel Reese.
The video for the song, which includes a demonstration of DoorDash’s DashPass benefts, takes place at New York’s legendary Rucker Park, where the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart take on all comers with some help from Bird, ending with a cheeky visual reference to NBA Jam — that’s right, “HE’S ON FIRE!” Fortunately, Kurtis has a fire extinguisher handy to put out the burning backboard.
You can check out Kurtis Blow and Lola Brooke’s “Basketball 2.0” video above.
The Indiana Pacers got off to a bit of a bumpy start to the 2024-25 NBA season, as the team found itself on a 3-game losing streak before knocking off the Boston Celtics in overtime on Wednesday night. It’s not ideal for a team that has aspirations of making it back to the Eastern Conference Finals, but it’s still very early in the season, and as we saw last year, when this team gets hot, they can take it to anyone.
Their best player to this point has been Pascal Siakam, who has looked like the exact sort of star forward the team envisioned when they acquired him midway through last season and especially after they handed him a lucrative contract extension this summer. And with the Pacers having an off night on Thursday before a matchup with the Pelicans in New Orleans on Friday, Siakam decided to have a little fun away from the court by dressing up for Halloween as Andre 3000 in the video for “Hey Ya!”
It is an absolutely fantastic costume, but Siakam wanted to take things a step farther. Not only did he dress up like 3 Stacks, he actually recreated a portion of the iconic music video.
Halloween isn’t necessarily a competition among NBA players or anything like that, but it is always fun to see the lengths guys will go to in order to have the most elaborate costume. I think we can safely say that, as of this point, Siakam has set the bar pretty high for the best costume in the league this year.
With the Boston Celtics raising banner 18 in the TD Garden on Tuesday night as they host the Knicks, the 82-game marathon that is the NBA regular season will officially get underway. That means a return to the floor from the best men’s basketball players on earth, and their presence on the hardwood always brings out stars from the world of entertainment, music, and other sports to watch them do what they do best. There are some teams like the Lakers and Knicks that have dozens of celebrities seated courtside on most game nights, while smaller markets tend to have fewer stars with their feet on the floor, but there’s a star out there that represents for each of the 30 teams in the league.
Here we wanted to take a look at the biggest celebrity fan of every team, with a few ground rules in place. For one, we tried our best not to include a celebrity that’s part of the current ownership group. We also aren’t including former players as celebrities — for instance, Shaq does not count — and aren’t going with active athletes who have just adopted a team in the city they currently play for. Finally, for the teams with a lot of celebrity fans, we lean on the frequency you see them at games and how long they’ve been a regular at the arena break ties.
Atlanta Hawks: 2 Chainz
There are a ton hip-hop artists that you could argue in this spot, but the tiebreaker in this space goes to the celebrity you will most often see courtside repping their team. In Atlanta, that means Mr. Tity Two Necklace, who has been a staple courtside with his kids at State Farm Arena for years. He is involved as an owner with the G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks, but not with the big club, so he earns this spot.
Boston Celtics: Ben Affleck
Take your pick of Affleck, Matt Damon, or Mark Wahlberg. The tiebreaker here is tough because none of them are in Boston at games all that often, but Affleck is almost always courtside for a Lakers-Celtics game in L.A. so we’ll give him the nod here. Also his deep affection for Kendrick Perkins is something that only a true, diehard Celtics fan could have.
Brooklyn Nets: Jay-Z
Jay-Z is no longer the owner of the Nets so he qualifies here, and while he’s not a nightly presence at Barclays Center, he still pops up and is, without question, the most famous person associated with the franchise. I will say, the funniest answer I found in my research was that if you do a Getty Images search for “celebrities attend Brooklyn Nets” you will get pictures of Ben Simmons seated on the Nets bench in street clothes listed as a celebrity.
Charlotte Hornets: J Cole
I don’t think there’s any real competition here, but the North Carolina native proudly reps his Hornets. The best part of being a Hornets fan is not the joy they give you on the basketball court, but the joy wearing a retro Hornets Starter jacket provides and J Cole takes advantage of that.
Chicago Bulls: Barack Obama
The more common courtside fan is, well, Common, but he just cannot touch the level of fame of the former President of the United States. Obama loves his hoops and specifically his Bulls, and I’d love to get his honest thoughts on Jerry Reinsdorf one day.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Drew Carey
With respect to Machine Gun Kelly, it’s gotta be Drew Carey. I don’t think any famous person has ever ridden harder for the city of Cleveland than Drew, and the Price is Right host loves him some Cavs basketball.
Dallas Mavericks: Patrick Mahomes
It helps him that Kansas City doesn’t have an NBA team so he can stay true to his Mavs roots, but Mahomes is one of a few active athletes who has stayed a true diehard of a team from outside the city he plays in and regularly pops up at games. He’s a pretty frequent courtside patron of Mavs games, taking advantage of the fact that the NFL season ends right when the NBA’s stretch run gets going. He’s not the first quarterback to be a regular presence at Mavs games. Remember when Tony Romo suited up for the Mavs one time and got a full intro with the team and everything? That was wild, and now that Mark Cuban’s not running the show, I doubt Mahomes will ever get that kind of opportunity.
Denver Nuggets: Peyton Manning
Denver doesn’t have a ton of celebs, but the former Broncos QB has adopted Denver as his home and pops up courtside to watch Nikola Jokic and company fairly regularly.
Detroit Pistons: Eminem
Like Atlanta, there are a handful of Detroit artists that you’ll find at Pistons games, but while Eminem isn’t a frequent patron of Little Caesars Arena, he is by far the most famous of the celebs that support the Pistons.
Golden State Warriors: Guy Fieri and E-40
I’m making it a tie between Guy and 40 because this feels like a #TwoAmericas situation. At this point I think on the whole Fieri is more famous, but E-40 is an absolute legend and a constant presence at Warriors games so we’ll pick them both.
Houston Rockets: Travis Scott
Travis Scott rides with his hometown team and has been a regular at the Toyota Center even through some lean post-James Harden years. That’s not always the case with celebrity fans, but Cactus Jack is not a fair weather supporter.
Indiana Pacers: David Letterman
It’s either Letterman or Jesse Eisenberg in this spot, and I feel like the former Late Night host is more popular and loves to represent for Indianapolis. Also, he also once asked Kevin Durant why people call him KD in a press conference while he was on the Nets, which has little to do with the Pacers but I would feel remiss if I didn’t mention it here.
Los Angeles Clippers: Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal is in the Basketball Hall of Fame now for his Clippers fandom, which makes it pretty easy to choose him for this spot, but honestly that is an honor that should be bestowed upon anyone that had Clippers season tickets in the 90s and early 2000s.
Los Angeles Lakers: Jack Nicholson
There are few places on earth where you can find more famous people in one room than at a Lakers game on any given night. And yet, out of all of celebrities you’ll find courtside at a Lakers game, the only answer here is Jack, who also joined Crystal and Spike Lee going into the Hall of Fame this year as superfans.
Memphis Grizzlies: GloRilla
Justin Timberlake isn’t eligible given he’s part of the ownership group, and there are a lot of Memphis artists that could stake claim to this spot. For this season, we’ll go with the biggest rising star from the Memphis rap scene, GloRilla, provided her allegiance hasn’t flipped to Damian Lillard’s Bucks.
Miami Heat: DJ Khaled
The Heat have a number of famous folks roll through their games, but no one is a more regular fixture courtside at the Kaseya Center than DJ Khaled (and sometimes his shoe pillow).
Milwaukee Bucks: Sheryl Crow
There are not a lot of options for Milwaukee — which, hey, if you’re a celebrity looking to become the most famous fan of a team, that’s a pretty good bandwagon to jump on — but we’ll go with Sheryl Crow who was a regular during the Bucks title run in 2021. Gucci Mane was also on the bandwagon for the Bucks then, which was perhaps just something he did to spite Drake.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Jimmy Jam
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer might not be a household name to a younger generation, but the legendary songwriter and former collaborator with Prince and Morris Day has been a regular at Bucks game since the franchise arrived in Minneapolis.
New Orleans Pelicans: Anthony Mackie
There are some New Orleans artists like Juvenile and Curren$y that certainly could stake a claim here, but Anthony Mackie has a bit of a broader audience by way of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The New Orleans native has been riding with the Pelicans for years, and the new lead of the Captain America franchise rocks very heavy with New Orleans sports.
New York Knicks: Spike Lee
Spike is the best known celebrity fan in the NBA, period, and there is no other answer in New York. Even with some other very famous diehards (shouts to Ben Stiller, who only tweets about charity work, his movies, and the Knicks), it’s Spike by a mile. No one else becomes a central figure, for better or worse, more often than Spike when courtside.
Orlando Magic: Tiger Woods
Tiger doesn’t frequent the Kia Center much anymore, but he used to be a staple at Orlando games and he is, without question, the most famous person to ever regularly support the Magic. Maybe with their resurgence behind Paolo Banchero, the Big Cat will return courtside more often.
Philadelphia 76ers: Kevin Hart
The Sixers are sneakily a really tough choice. We go with Hart because no one is more vocal (shocker) about their Sixers fandom than the comedian, but he’s got stiff competition from Meek Mill and M. Night Shyamalan, the latter of whom goes to more Sixers games than just about anyone. Also, because he is a minority owner of the team (and also rarely at games), Will Smith is not eligible here.
Phoenix Suns: Alice Cooper
We’ll give Cooper the nod over Phil Mickelson and David Spade here. He doesn’t go to games quite as much anymore, but the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer is a long-time Suns fan and has performed at some Suns games in the past.
Portland Trail Blazers: Ty Burrell
The options here are Ty Burrell (most famously Phil from Modern Family), Danger Ehren from Jackass, or comedian Ian Karmel. I think Modern Family has the largest reach, so we’ll go with Burrell, but shouts to Danger Ehren, who was putting up Wilt numbers in Jackass Forever.
The Spurs still get use out of a GIF from years ago of Selena Gomez proudly showing off her Spurs jersey courtside, so even though she hasn’t been to a game in awhile (that there’s photos of on Getty, at least), she still is the biggest celebrity to rep the Spurs.
Toronto Raptors: Drake
There’s not really any competition in Toronto, where it’s very clearly Drake. He is constantly seated courtside, hops on the broadcast just to chop it up with the announce team sometimes, serves as a team ambassador, and pretty regularly collaborates with the Raptors for merch with his OVO line.
Utah Jazz: Gabrielle Union?
I gotta be honest, it’s very hard to find a celebrity Jazz fan that is not part of the ownership group in some way, so I’m going to finally cheat here and say Gabrielle Union-Wade who was at Jazz Summer League games (!) with her husband, Dwyane Wade who has a minority stake in the team.
Washington Wizards: Wolf Blitzer
Wale also has a claim here, but Wolf Blitzer is always at Wizards games and for some reason it makes me very happy that Wolf is just a diehard Wizards fan.
Damian Lillard is going into his second season in Milwaukee as a member of the Bucks, after he was traded there in a stunning deal two summers ago. The pairing of Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo was supposed to create one of the most formidable tandems in the East, but the 2023-24 season didn’t go according to plan, as the Bucks got bounced in the first round by the Pacers, with both Giannis and Dame finishing that series watching from the sidelines with injuries.
This summer, the Bucks stayed pretty quiet, making a couple additions on the margins with Gary Trent Jr. and Delon Wright, but will mostly hope that they can stay healthy and challenge the Celtics, Knicks, and Sixers for a Finals berth. On Monday, Lillard and the rest of the Bucks met with the media, and the toughest question he faced wasn’t about what the Bucks need to do to take down the defending champs or make strides in a full offseason with Doc Rivers at the helm.
Lillard has previously shot down questions about GloRilla, but this time was willing to divulge a bit more and have some fun with the question. “We know each other. She’s an artist, I’m an artist, but as far as anything else, it ain’t nothin’ goin’ on. That’s what I can tell you,” Lillard said.
That’s a professional answer from Dame, but it also provides the closest thing to clarity on whether there’s any relationship between he and the Memphis rapper.
True sports fans know the party starts long before the whistle is blown. For football fanatics the tailgate is the place to be. Today (September 28), DJ Khaled decided to one-up the University of Central Florida versus Colorado University tailgaters.
As thousands gathered outside of the FBC Mortgage Stadium to ahead of Colorado Buffaloes and UCF Knights showdown, the “Supposed To Be Loved” producer took his level of excitement for the game to new heights. As the Grammy winner discussed the matchup with FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff crew he needed to channel his adrenaline into a hilarious crowd-surf.
In the video (viewable here), the entire host team, which included Tom Brady hyped DJ Khaled up to take the plunge. With the assistance of Mark Ingram II, he dives head first into the onlookers.
Now, DJ Khaled has done come daredevil-like acts in the past including some late night mishaps with a jet ski. However, he’s never done anything quite like this. But the live studio audience were all on board with DJ Khaled’s antics. Just as DJ Khaled upper torso make contact with the fans, they quickly came together to push him over head. Although DJ Khaled’s crowd-surf didn’t last long, he can certainly cross it off of his bucket list.
Drake has long been connected with the sports world, most notably via his love (and since 2013, official role as an ambassador) for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. Now, he’s honoring some of his home city’s most beloved athletes as his brand October’s Very Own (OVO) announces the “Hometown Heroes Collection.”
OVO
The new merch drop honors “the legendary athletes who have shaped the city’s sports and culture,” per a press release. The ten-piece collection includes hoodies, t-shirts, and basketball and hockey jerseys featuring OVO branding, in partnership with the Raptors and the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs.
OVO is launching the collection with a campaign highlighting three Toronto favorites: former Toronto Maples Leafs captain Mats Sundin and former Raptors Muggsy Bogues and Morris Peterson.
OVO
The Hometown Heroes collection will be able to shop on the OVO website and at OVO flagship stores in the US, Canada, and UK, starting today, September 27, at 10 a.m. ET. Prices range from $68 to $198 USD.
Meanwhile, it was recently reported that on multiple occasions, Drake has turned down an invitation to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Jamil “Mal” Clay of the New Rory & Mal podcast claimed, “Drake has been offered the Super Bowl show for some years now and has turned it down. Probably four years, he’s been offered to perform at the Super Bowl, said no for whatever reason.”
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