Kings star DeMar DeRozan didn’t deserve getting insulted in Toronto by Drake | Opinion
Drake is my boy. For over a decade, I have had an almost cult belief in the Canadian rapper and his music. Since moving to California this year, my allegiance has been tested.
First, there was Drake’s well-known summer beef with California native Rapper Kendrick Lamar. And now, over the weekend, Drake’s beef with Kendrick extended to Kings star DeMar DeRozan. As any Kings fan knows by now, Drake got into it with DeRozan while standing courtside in Toronto on Saturday as the Toronto Raptors bested the Kings, a loss frustrating enough. But then Drake said DeRozan, who played in Toronto for nine seasons, didn’t deserve to ever have his number retired by the Raptors.
It’s hard to see my favorite artist beef with the star of my favorite NBA team. Kendrick I can do without. I think Drake bested Kendrick in their beef.
But DeRozan, a Compton native as is Kendrick could get Sacramento a championship. This is gonna be a tough choice for me to make.
The backdrop of this beef is about more than sports. DeRozan made an appearance in Lamar’s music video for “Not Like Us,” and was one of the NBA stars who went on stage and danced when Kendrick performed the song in LA and at Drake’s expense.
Nationally, the tough loss the Kings took to the Raptors in overtime got less attention than Drake glaring at DeRozan and being caught on camera mouthing some choice words about DeRozan as he left the court in defeat.
DeRozan returns to Toronto with beef
The game was a another return to Toronto for DeRozan, who is the all-time leading scorer in Raptors history and led them to five playoff appearances. Not many people can say they accomplished that.
But in the sports world sometimes it’s all about “What have you done for me lately?”
While being interviewed during the game, Rapper and uber Raptors fan Drake had spicy words for DeRozan.
“If you ever put up a DeRozan banner, I’ll pull that thing down myself,” Drake said about DeRozan on Saturday. He even called the Kings star a word that I can’t use in a family newspaper.
DeRozan, who scored 33 in the loss, quipped back to the Grammy award-winning artist. “Well he’s going to have a long way to climb to take it down,” he said after the game.
Drake’s comments during the game, they came from a fan that sadly puts achievement over commitment.
DeRozan played for the Raptors for nine seasons and was traded away the season before the Raptors won a NBA title in 2019, thanks to their then-new star Kawhi Leonard.
Yes, the Raptors have a championship thanks to Leonard, but as soon as the parade was over and the confetti was cleaned up, he was on his way to the LA Clippers, and we all know how that is turning out: not good. DeRozan spent almost a decade in the community and committed the prime of his career to that organization.
DeRozan was most criticized for not being the guy to help the Raptors get over the hump that was LeBron James, who squashed their playoff hopes in three straight seasons leading up to 2018-2019 season. His case was not helped when all it took was one season with Leonard for them to make it to the promised land.
DeRozan has a place in Sacramento
DeRozan’s response to Drake showed that he clearly knows his worth and the contributions that he gave to the Raptors. If he wasn’t that good, the trade for Leonard wouldn’t have happened.
The Raptors will be in DeRozan’s new home when they come to the Golden 1 Center to take on the Kings at home.
DeRozan has shown me and many of the Kings faithful that he is exactly what we need to be successful. He provides the consistent scoring that we need to keep us competitive in close games, much like Saturday’s overtime game.
We are not a perfect team, but we are finding ourselves with each game. But so far DeRozan has proven to be the nucleus that we can get around.
No matter how I feel about Drake’s music, a man who spent nine years bringing success to a team doesn’t deserve what DeRozan got on Saturday.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 9:00 PM.
