NBA
Westbrook and DeRozan pick side in Kendrick Lamar-Drake beef
Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan joined Kendrick Lamar onstage on Wednesday night while the rapper performed his hit Drake diss ‘Not Like Us.’
Westbrook and DeRozan were among the A-list crowd at Lamar’s ‘The Pop Out’ show in LA, with Lakers star LeBron James in the crowd as well.
And the pair – who are both California natives like Lamar – danced in front of a sold-out crowd as the 17-time Grammy winner performed the breakout song from his recent beef with the Toronto-born Drake.
DeRozan, who previously played for Drake’s beloved Raptors from 2009-18, was known to be close to the rapper and even called him ‘my dog’ after being name-dropped on ‘Lemon Pepper Freestyle’
“He’s the biggest, the coldest in the game,’ he told the ‘Knuckleheads’ podcast in 2021.
Click here to resize this module
James’ presence at the show may come as a surprise to some too, given that Drake previously called him ‘my brother.’
The pair have known each other for at least 15 years and James has also had Drake on the basketball star’s ‘The Shop’ show.
“In 2009, when nobody believed in anything I had going on, that same guy showed up to a release party for a mixtape…,’ Drake said of James in 2023, while performing at the Lakers home Crypto.com Arena.
‘He came all the way to Toronto, Canada to support me, when I was trying to figure out how I can live my dreams.’
Earlier this month, the ‘Six God’ rapper made headlines with another pair of massive sports bets, as he wagered $50k each on the Dallas Mavericks and Edmonton Oilers to win their respective championships.
The Mavericks wound up losing in five games to the Boston Celtics, though that bet would have netted him $1.375m had it landed.
The Oilers, meanwhile, are still alive in the Stanley Cup Finals, as they trail the Florida Panthers 3-2.
Drake would win $1.025million if the Canadian team can manage to win two more games.